Panama Hotel and Tea House

This Historic Hotel was bought and refurbished in 1986 by a local artist and today it is still a hotel and a tea house brim full of history. It was a working "man"s hotel and bathhouse during the time in history before we , sadly, interned a major part of our Japanese population in concentration type camps. Before some of the local Japanese families were taken from their homes, some were able to store things in the basement of this hotel. These were rediscovered when the hotel was bought. What was never able to be returned to original families are now either part of a roving collection or in historical museums around the country. Some things are still in the hotel's basement. For more detailed information and background go here.

Today I took an escape time and had tea/lunch at this lovely old hotel with a good friend. The collage includes some of the images I took while there. I first became interested in going here after reading the fiction book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. see review of it here.

Best in Large!