Now for a bit more on the vacation.
Pam and I spent a couple days in Wallace, Idaho...recently named one of the 10 most interesting small towns. We didn't know that at the time.
The whole town (which I did know) is on the national register of historic places. Due to that, the interstate is built on stilts above the town. We took a mine tour (silver mining was the industry...now it's toxic metals cleanup from the mine waste), and a brothel tour.
The last brothel closed in 1988 and when the current owners bought it several years ago they found that the girls had left everything in place and just fled some clothes and the cash! The accidentally bought a fully furnished whorehouse! How awesome would that be? Way better than just snooping through stuff when you're house sitting (which I would NEVER do).
The tour was pretty interesting. They put gates around the doors to the TINY rooms so you just lean in and see what was up. I was surprised by the tiny twin beds and the cheap and cheesy chenille bedspreads. The furniture was right out of the 1960s and before. Old, dilapidated, and ugly. But I guess the men were not coming in for the decor. (wow..it is impossible to write this without unintended horrifying puns. Just try to ignore them.)
We each bought a mug with the "menu" as it was in 1988 (it was left on the wall). We are still trying to figure out what is the difference between "no frills" "standard" and "deluxe". You can get that on a "regular" or a "french". You could also buy by the hour but then positions cost 5$ each AND 2$ each...what does that mean? There was also the option of a bubble bath. Given that there was only one bathroom, if someone had bought the bubble bath, then the other hookers had to pee in a bucket! Selling your body for sex I can understand, but peeing in a bucket in 1988? I've never needed money that badly. (for the record, also never participated in the sex industry in any format)
The town allowed them to continue business as long as they stayed in the brothel 22 hours a day. The 2 hours they could be out they had to dress appropriately and not talk to people. They had to see a doctor each week and carry a health card. Eventually the sheriff who allowed it was indicted for racketeering, but still almost won the next election. Whoring is only a misdemeanor but the girls heard the FBI was going to raid them and they panicked and ran and never came back. The woman giving the tour says that there were no sex crimes before 1988 when it shut down...I'm not sure I believe her. But she is correct that when the mines were running full staff, several decades ago, the population had 200 men for each woman! And the madame and some of the girls (madame is now dead but most of the girls from 1988 are still alive) say they made good money. The madame estimated that each one could make 2000$ or more per week. They would work a few weeks in one mining town and then on to another or a vacation. One put herself through welding school and is now a welder back east somewhere.
The creepiest part of the visit was not the tour itself, it was the guy in the downstairs (the hookers were up over a store front...sort of like Gramma's apartment), shop where you buy your souvenirs and tour tickets. He was reminiscing about visiting the hookers back in the day. The woman running the place was being pretty obvious about not wanting to hear it and he just kept going on and on. ICK!!! But honestly, looking at him and knowing that he is gauche enough to reminisce with an aging catholic woman about how much he enjoyed paying for "love"...I can see why he has to "pay for love". Who would date that?
If you want to visit the brothel museum, you have to wait until spring. Wallace's attractions shut down over winter due to lack of people.
3 comments:
Hey, when do I get to go see the whore house? You do the coolest stuff lol
How far is Wallace from you? How far are you from Tacoma? LaJon and I have a NWUSA trip planned for. . . someday. I would love to go to the brothel (and see you).
As you most likely know there were three cat houses in Wallace. The Deluxe, Deluxette, and the U & I. Let’s get the story straight here. First of all I was a patron of the lovely establishments in 1971 – 1977. The women were from all walks of life for whatever reasons. I knew most of them well. They came and went. I had a preference for the women at the U & I for multiple reasons. Price, comfort, beauty, and sweet sorority WSU girls who made a living in the summer months in Wallace to pay for their education. Yes, the girls were very well taken care of by the Madams of the house. She did not put up with any shit from anybody and protected her girls. The sheriff had a new police cruiser almost every year and the high school athletes had new uniforms supplied by the cat houses every year. The people of the town left the whorehouses alone. The women kept a low profile and crime was almost non-excitant. The girls were required to have weekly check-ups and they themselves checked over their clients carefully. The prices averaged $15.00 for 30 minutes for straight sex at the U & I, $20.00 at the Deluxe and Deluxette. Most of the girls had boyfriends off duty and it was a general rule amongst the girls never to kiss the clients. That was saved for their boyfriends only. But for the right price and once the girls got to know you, anything was open as long as you treated them with respect. If you had a special girl you spent time with she would go the extra mile to please you. The Madame would knock on the door to let you know you had five minutes left with the girl. If you wanted more time with the girl she would call through the door and slip the additional funds under the door to the Madame. The girls were restricted from the streets on Sunday, for obvious reasons. As it was stated in the article on this WEB site, the girls did not even come close to $2000 a week in wages. More like $700. But everything was provided for them. The best time to visit the houses was at Noon. That is when the houses opened up and the girls were fresh and rested. I could go on and on about the Wallace cat houses, but the bottom line is they were every day women just trying to make a living. The history of women of the evening in Wallace is quite interesting indeed.
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