Ketchikan: Dolly's House - Employment Application
During our self-guided walking tour of Ketchikan, Alaska, Mike and I strolled through the city's historic Creek Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a designated historic district, Creek Street is located along the eastern shore of Ketchikan Creek adjacent to the downtown area. It features a boardwalk and buildings built over the water on wooden pilings, and it gained notoriety as Ketchikan's ''red-light district'' circa 1903-1954.
Our visit to Creek Street included a stop at Dolly's House (24 Creek St.), a former brothel that today operates as a museum. After entering through the parlor and proceeding through the dining room and kitchen, we came to the front hallway. This shot shows a Dolly's House employment application; it is currently framed and displayed with other items of interest in the front hallway.
A few details according to an informational placard displayed in the kitchen:
Kitchen and Hallway
Along the right side of the hallway, you can see some of the modifications Dolly made to her house, like indoor plumbing. Notice the clever ''Men's Room.''
It was booze that made money for the girls more than the $3 tricks they turned. Dolly's arrival was timely. It was the time of big money on the Creek. Just a few months after she bought her house at No. 24, Prohibition went into effect: January 16, 1920.
During Prohibition, a gentleman caller could wait in the parlor with a short-shot of bootleg liquor, at fifty cents per teaspoon. Dolly said she never closed her business for the day until she had made between $75 and $100. Her standard rate was $3. You are invited to do the accounting for yourself. There were expenses, too...as much as $300 for a case of smuggled Canadian liquor. The cases of booze were passed up through a trap door under the house, late at night, at high tide. Dolly was a cautious business woman and only kept one bottle out at a time, and everyone shared the same shot glass. Everyone, including the authorities, knew that there was booze all over town. ''It was the marshall himself who told us to keep just one bottle and shot glass so we could throw it in the creek, and that's what we did,'' Dolly once said. To protect her earnings, Dolly built a little safe right into the house, with a slot for coins; she did not make change.
Ketchikan: Dolly's House - Employment Application
During our self-guided walking tour of Ketchikan, Alaska, Mike and I strolled through the city's historic Creek Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a designated historic district, Creek Street is located along the eastern shore of Ketchikan Creek adjacent to the downtown area. It features a boardwalk and buildings built over the water on wooden pilings, and it gained notoriety as Ketchikan's ''red-light district'' circa 1903-1954.
Our visit to Creek Street included a stop at Dolly's House (24 Creek St.), a former brothel that today operates as a museum. After entering through the parlor and proceeding through the dining room and kitchen, we came to the front hallway. This shot shows a Dolly's House employment application; it is currently framed and displayed with other items of interest in the front hallway.
A few details according to an informational placard displayed in the kitchen:
Kitchen and Hallway
Along the right side of the hallway, you can see some of the modifications Dolly made to her house, like indoor plumbing. Notice the clever ''Men's Room.''
It was booze that made money for the girls more than the $3 tricks they turned. Dolly's arrival was timely. It was the time of big money on the Creek. Just a few months after she bought her house at No. 24, Prohibition went into effect: January 16, 1920.
During Prohibition, a gentleman caller could wait in the parlor with a short-shot of bootleg liquor, at fifty cents per teaspoon. Dolly said she never closed her business for the day until she had made between $75 and $100. Her standard rate was $3. You are invited to do the accounting for yourself. There were expenses, too...as much as $300 for a case of smuggled Canadian liquor. The cases of booze were passed up through a trap door under the house, late at night, at high tide. Dolly was a cautious business woman and only kept one bottle out at a time, and everyone shared the same shot glass. Everyone, including the authorities, knew that there was booze all over town. ''It was the marshall himself who told us to keep just one bottle and shot glass so we could throw it in the creek, and that's what we did,'' Dolly once said. To protect her earnings, Dolly built a little safe right into the house, with a slot for coins; she did not make change.