From 1991 to 2008, Yoshikas Sauna served the West End with its famous “erotic” massages. Everyone in town knew prostitution was going on there, but somehow the long arm of the law seemed to ignore it.
It was finally shut down when the city decided not to grant a massage establishment license to owner Suzy Woo-Young in November 2008. (Woo-Young had operated Yoshikas without a license all those years, and decided to finally apply for one. Oops.)
Kevin Lund bought the building and had it torn down last Thursday.
Any Yoshikas memories for the record, PDD commenters? (You know, stories that won’t gross us all out.)
By the way, people always called the place “Yoshiko’s Sauna.” The News Tribune refers to it as “Yoshiko Sauna,” which is also how it appeared in the phone book. The sign (pictured above) said “Yoshikas Sauna,” so I spell it that way. It seems like there should be a possessive apostrophe, but I’m not sure who or what a Yoshika is.
