If you were around in the 80's this place shook the city like an atomic bomb.
The Wah Mee massacre was a mass shooting that occurred during the night of February 18-19, 1983, in the Wah Mee gambling club at the Louisa Hotel in Seattle. Fourteen people were bound, robbed and shot by three gunmen, 22-year-old Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak.....
Background on Hotel & Club go farther back. The Louisa Hotel was built in 1909. Paul Woo purchased the building in 1963 for US$160,000. Both before and after that purchase, it functioned as a single room occupancy hotel (SRO) with street-level spaces for shops and restaurants until 1970, when tightened building codes led to the closure of the SRO portion. Two nightclubs operated illegally in the basement space of the hotel by the 1920s. The one in the western half, entered from Maynard Alley South, was originally named Blue Heaven. At its height, patrons of many ethnic backgrounds visited to partake in gambling, dancing and other forms of entertainment. By the 1950s, the club had been renamed to Wah Mee (華美; 'Beautiful China'), known for high-stakes gaming. The Wah Mee operated illegally, as contemporary local blue laws required clubs to close before midnight; it was raided by police in 1972. By the 1980s, the Wah Mee had gained a much seedier reputation as a dive bar. read more