Running tour · Seattle

Gold Rush to Japantown

1.0 mi run

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Smith Tower

   Look up at the white tower, and the glass dome that crowns it. That's Smith Tower.

2. Waterfall Garden Park

   Listen for the falling water. That's a waterfall, twenty-two feet tall, and it's man-made. Five thousand gallons of water are pumped over it every minute.

3. Klondike Gold Rush museum

   Look at the old Cadillac Hotel, the Seattle home of the Klondike Gold Rush visitor centre. In July 1897, the steamship Portland docked in Seattle with 68 prospectors and what newspapers called "a ton of gold". Canada made every stampeder bring a year's supply of goods.

4. King Street Station

   Look up King Street to the clock tower. That's King Street Station, opened in 1906. Its 242-foot tower was modelled on the campanile in St Mark's Square in Venice, which had recently collapsed. When it went up, it was the tallest building in Seattle. Four big clock faces give the time in every direction.

5. Panama Hotel

   Look at the five-storey building at Sixth and Main. This corner was the heart of Seattle's Japantown, the Nihonmachi. The Panama Hotel opened here in 1910, a "workingman's" hotel. Its architect was Sabro Ozasa, the first Japanese architect to practise in Seattle.

6. Wing Luke Museum

   Look at the building with decorated balconies and Chinese characters on its north side. Around here, balconies like these can mark family associations or business groups.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source