North Idaho Noir
I stayed in this hotel in Wallace, Idaho and it was quite pleasant: I was the only guest. It looks like something out of a Jim Thompson novel, but everything inside is clean and functional.
The last time I came to Wallace, Idaho was in 1995, and since then a few bars have closed, several gift shops and art galleries have opened, there's now a book store, the restaurant food is noticeably better, and the population has declined even more to a current estimate of 870 people.
What is remarkable about Wallace is that not only is the entire downtown on the National Registry of Historic Places, but aside from a US Bank and a Wells Fargo, there is not a single intrusion by national chains--no McDonalds, 7-11, Safeway, or Motel 6.
Wallace was built to serve the mining industry--silver in particular--and some extraction still goes on. The scene of radical labor action in the 1890s that required the intervention of the US Army, Wallace was until the late 1970s considered a wide open town: prostitution, gambling, and questionable alcohol sales were all tolerated.
Wallace is the birthplace of Lana Turner, and in conjunction with the neighboring towns in the Silver Valley has an extremely high occurrence of cancer--probably due to more than a century of hard rock mining and the ensuing waste.
If you don't need a job, this is a cheap place to live: I saw an ad for two bedroom, one bath house for $59,000.
www.seattlepi.com/archives/1991/9109160058.asp
North Idaho Noir
I stayed in this hotel in Wallace, Idaho and it was quite pleasant: I was the only guest. It looks like something out of a Jim Thompson novel, but everything inside is clean and functional.
The last time I came to Wallace, Idaho was in 1995, and since then a few bars have closed, several gift shops and art galleries have opened, there's now a book store, the restaurant food is noticeably better, and the population has declined even more to a current estimate of 870 people.
What is remarkable about Wallace is that not only is the entire downtown on the National Registry of Historic Places, but aside from a US Bank and a Wells Fargo, there is not a single intrusion by national chains--no McDonalds, 7-11, Safeway, or Motel 6.
Wallace was built to serve the mining industry--silver in particular--and some extraction still goes on. The scene of radical labor action in the 1890s that required the intervention of the US Army, Wallace was until the late 1970s considered a wide open town: prostitution, gambling, and questionable alcohol sales were all tolerated.
Wallace is the birthplace of Lana Turner, and in conjunction with the neighboring towns in the Silver Valley has an extremely high occurrence of cancer--probably due to more than a century of hard rock mining and the ensuing waste.
If you don't need a job, this is a cheap place to live: I saw an ad for two bedroom, one bath house for $59,000.
www.seattlepi.com/archives/1991/9109160058.asp