The Panama Hotel, home to many Japanese American artifacts and belongings left behind due to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II, has received a preservation grant from the National Park Service, reports the Seattle Times.
The grant of $137,000 was made possible by the designation of the hotel as a national treasure in April.
It is the only site in Seattle to have such a designation.
“It’s important for people to know what went on here,” said hotel owner Jan Johnson. Coincidentally, the hotel was designed by Japanese American architect Sabro Ozasa. During World War II, the hotel was owned by Takashi Hori who made space available for people to store their treasures. Many who left items in the hotel never returned to Seattle to reclaim them. Those items remain in the basement, largely kept out of the public view except for through a window in the floor of the hotel.
You can read about the possible future of the hotel and how the grant might be used to preserve its history in the Seattle Times.