The video above and the text below comes from a colleague (and fan of mine!) here in Boise, a fellow historian named Rick Just. He’s written a bunch of books and for years has published some fun short pieces on his website and written longer historical novels (my faves are about the Idaho State Park system and the history of vernaular roadside architecture like the Stinker Station). There are actually a number of men who have done some research on brothels and prostitution in Idaho well before many women were and I’m not sure why that is (other than Mark from Idahistory who has created some fun walking and driving tours on such sights so it’s a money making endeavor for him and he’s very entertaining and presents research in a light and easy way that’s so palatable for the ordinary people - if you’re interested in quirky Idaho history he’s a great follow on social media.)
I’m indebted to both men listed above because their research comes up often in my internet searches and their sources, when they list them, lead me to some great stuff (as well as some others I’ll credit when their research comes into my own), but it’s really the female historians that interest me the most. The way they think and write about such subject matter is just different and more nuanced in many ways. I’m also super interested in the way other women view(ed) and wrote and thought about sex workers throughout Boise history. Men were very much, it seems, more than okay with the existence of “vices” like red light districts (probably because they were the ones keeping them rolling in the money), but it was the women who adamantly opposed them and ultimately started successful movements to destroy them. More on that later.
Tonight, let’s talk about Diamond Tooth Lil and how I got to share her brothel site with a bunch of scientists just last week.
Diamond Tooth Lil was an entertainer and entrepreneur who bounced around the West from Silver City to San Francisco, spending significant time in Boise as a manager of rooming houses or boarding houses (brothels were called this). Her birth name was Evelyn Fialla (some sources say Prado was her last name), and she was born in Austria-Hungary in about 1877. She married at least eight times, but the name she preferred to use was her first husband’s surname of Hildegard. Everyone else preferred Diamond Tooth Lil.
Lil loved to tell the story of her life to any reporter who would listen. She often told about her gold right front tooth with the diamond, about 1/3 carat, mounted in the center of it. She won that piece of art from a Reno dentist in a bet on a horse race in 1907. More than once she promised to leave the tooth and its diamond to the Idaho Children’s Home orphanage. (Didn’t happen – it got buried with her in California where she died in 1967.)
She ran an auto court called the Depot Inn on the bench near the Boise Depot, and a hotel at 219 S. Ninth, among other Boise properties. She moved to Los Angeles to retire in 1943 but visited Boise regularly. In 1953 she sent photos and other items to the Boise Chamber of Commerce with a note, “just sending a little momento, so you’ll not forget me.”
I got called out of retirement as an architectural historian tour guide for Preservation Idaho to give two downtown walking tours to the attendees of the American Chemical Society conference here in Boise (if you’re new here you might not know I’ve been working for them for 17 years now and actually have a masters degree in art and architectural history even though I did just complete a big research and writing project for a historic downtown Boise kids walking tour). I was excited to be able to share some new research I’ve done on both our Chinatown (we once had one of the largest Chinatown’s in the NW rivaling San Francisco and Seattle! I have so much to say on this marginalized group also but that’s another post) and also more on our brothels and red light district. Both places we walk by on our tour and neither of them are really given the weight they deserve in the tour script, but I’m lucky that as an expert historian I can add in bits of my research and expertise and change it up.
The conference took place at the Boise Centre, which is in the heart of downtown and is our giant convention center. It also happens to be sitting on the location of Diamond Tooth Lil’s Star Rooms brothel (for locals it was facing 9th Street where Boise Centre West is on the corner of 9th and Front). While it was demolished in the 1960s or 70s, we do have this photo and I love passing around pics of what used to be in places in the city. It was a great place to start the discussion of sex work as important women’s work (it was one of the only jobs women could hold and make their own money. These women were powerful and important members of our society (as Diamond Lil’s story attests) and often shared their great wealth with other civic causes like schools and hospitals. I’m absolutely fascinated by their stories and their grit.
The other night there was a gorgeous sunset and I was driving right by the location of Diamond Lil’s auto court the Depot Inn on old Highway 30 (now called Federal Way) right where it meets Capital Boulevard at the 1925 train depot. Popular in the 1920s and 1930s (the early Route 66 era), these auto court properties were typically made up of individual, detached or semi-detached more rustic type cabins or cottages arranged in a U-shape or row around a central courtyard. They often featured a private garage or carport directly next to or attached to the cabin. It’s now the Catholic diocese. It’s also just blocks from my home.
I often talk about how I see ghosts in this town. As a historian living in a place that has historically loved destroying building after building, I can’t help but look at a site and remember what used to be there and what happened there. I didn’t know anything about Diamond Lil or her brothel downtown or her auto court near my house until my summer research project started and now I can’t drive by it without wondering about her, the folks who stayed there, what Boise was like when sex work was legal and a normal part of their lives.
I have so much more to share, but next deep throat dive. Also, you can see more shots from this sunset spinning series on my Instagram post today (please follow me there if you don’t already for more fun “behind” the scenes). And! A big thank you to the follower here who sent me a link to watch Debbie Does Dallas online after I wrote about trying to find it everywhere because what a hoot and also I’m so here for the natural boobs and bush of the 1970s. I realllllllly enjoyed it. xo
