Panama Hotel

The week before our break I quickly browsed our "book sharing" bookshelf at school and randomly picked up Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

I started reading the book when I was waiting for my flight in the Lexington airport. Imagine my delight when I read on the first page that it took place in Seattle! It had lots of other cool connections as well. Here are a few:

1. Main character is Chinese American - I was going to meet my friends that I met in China

2. His name was Henry - that was the name of the Chinese official at our school

3. Henry's family spoke Cantonese and referred to lots of foods by their Cantonese names - Cantonese is what we heard spoken this summer and we sure did try a lot the of the mentioned foods

4. Henry's son was marrying a girl named Samantha - my Seattle friend's name is Samantha (Sammi) and also has blond hair and blue eyes

5. The song mentioned in book is "The Alley Cats" - Sammi lives with 10 girls in a big house and refer to themselves as "The Alley Cats" (this is where I stayed while in Seattle)

Of course, I had to search for this hotel since I was reading the book. We finally found the Panama Hotel in the International District of Seattle. I was little disappointed because I had envisioned something on a grander scale. But I guess this was good for a hotel in the Chinese/Japanese section of the city in the 1940s.

Nihonmachi was the word for the Japanese section of the city in the book. I had to snap a pic when I saw it as the name of an apartment building.

I think this type of gate is a must for all cities with a Chinese tie.