Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asia Weekly
Hotel Louisa sign (photo by Joe Mabel)
On a semi-sunny day in late April, Tanya Woo of the Woo family in charge of the historic Louisa Hotel leads photographer Joe Mabel and I to the mural along the Louisa stairs at the front entrance of the Royal Club Jazz Club.
Joe walked up and down these steps with his camera and tripod, looking for the best shot. Wu warned us not to get too close.
I heard a scratching sound behind me and my heart was pounding. No harm done – thank goodness. But my backpack just brushed past a good chunk of Seattle’s history.
In 1963, Hu’s father bought the Louisa Hotel.
Hotel Louisa mural (photo by Joe Mabel)
“The mural staircase led to the basement, where Seattle’s first Chinese bakery had a kitchen,” she recalls. “I remember walking down the stairs and crying as a kid because the hand above the ‘Royal Club’ sign would scare me.”
The discovery of the artwork was carried out in stages as the building was restored and restored.
“We were aware of the mural on the right side of that staircase. But when the crew removed the supply slot on the left side of the staircase, we saw the mural covering the entire staircase. Our architect contributed his time to redraw the plans and resubmitted the relocation A permit to exit the basement and keep the mural in place.”
Mural behind the Royal Club bar (photo by Joe Mabel)
The Royal Club basement speakeasy operated from August 1930 until a police raid in February 1931, when police jumped onto the stage and handcuffed the piano players. In violation of Prohibition laws, the club never reopened.
“Club Royale’s clientele is diverse at a time when most of the city doesn’t have it,” Woo said. “These jazz clubs are a diverse place that welcomes white, black and Asian communities.
“This jazz scene breaks down many color and social barriers and breaks down a united community. [But] Newspapers of the early 20th century often ignored black musicians. They will only cover crime and violence. That’s why so little is known about these jazz clubs unless they appear in the newspapers for a surprise report. “
A second speakeasy, Blue Heaven, is located across from the basement. That space later became the Wah Mee Club. But as Woo highlights, Louisa has played a number of roles over the past few decades.
“The building operates as an SRO (single occupancy) hotel. Men would stay here waiting for their work assignments. Sailors would visit on shore holidays.
Louisa Hotel Club Royale Entrance Ceiling (Photo by Joe Mabel)
“We found secret passages, deadlock doors, secret doors, stairs inside pillars. If a club or gambling establishment is attacked, people can go to hotels for the night. Not all businesses in the building are illegal! Many are immigrants Businesses. The ground floor has multiple times a restaurant, tailor, grocery store and billiards hall.”
The origins of the frescoes remain a frustrating mystery.
“The painter is unknown,” Woo said, “but historian Paul de Barros believes the frescoed staircase may have been painted by Ted or Louella Tagholm, both commercial artists and children of one of the building’s original owners. We were able to Visited his family and saw a lot of Tagholm’s work.”
The different figures seem to be racially ambiguous, with several same-sex couples among them – a rare piece of art that exudes the openness and acceptance of the era.
Those staircase paintings received the most attention, and they were visible through the glass on the street side of the hotel. But other images, possibly from different artists, adorn the walls of the parking lot and the building’s former mechanical room.
“During the demolition process, we found a mural of a tropical sunset, lush with foliage and lanterns, behind the peeling wallpaper,” explains Woo. “We found an old set of permits submitted to the City of Seattle that included the layout of the jazz club. According to that old set of permits, [the tropical scene] is where the bar is. The mural is waist-high, which makes sense, with the bar right in front of them. “
Despite a devastating fire in 2013, the campaign to refurbish the hotel was a success. The building now houses 7 commercial spaces and 84 apartment units.
However, Woo said the murals need to be preserved and restored.
“While we were able to get funding from 4Culture, the Seattle Community Department and Historic South Downtown, the work is not done. The plaster of the basement murals are crumbling and we need about $4,000 to save them.”
Woo keeps his work, business and creative work away from the building. But she’s still passionate about the hotel’s history, and there’s still work to be done.
“I believe the mural has had the most important impact on my radical life,” she concludes. “It helped me find my voice. It was an uphill battle to save them, there was a lot of heated discussions and there were days where I thought the project was over.
“I remember being very upset after being told for the first time that we couldn’t save them. Someone pulled me over and whispered, ‘Okay. You have to fight for this.'”
For more information on the murals at Hotel Louisa and to donate to the Restoration Fund, visit louisahotelseattle.com/history.
Andrew is available at info@nwasianweekly.com.
