Oh yeah, sex sold in Cd'A, too
Coeur d’Alene has no room to tsk-tsk about Wallace’s former Red-Light days.
The Lake City had its own bordellos.
Ask Bonnie D’Alessandro, whose family owns Tony’s on the Lake. In 1939, Jeanette Winters opened the business as a bordello, “Jeanett’s Club.” Somewhere along the way the brothel lost the third E in Jeanette’s name.
Bonnie contacted Huckleberries after reading last week’s column item featuring Dr. Heather Branstetter of Wallace and her local history, “Selling Sex in the Silver Valley: A Business Doing Pleasure.”
After purchasing Tony’s in 2004, the new owners learned about Winters from a man in his late 80s who admired her. She was a small woman, the old-timer told the D’Alessandros, but he’d seen her grab a belligerent customer by the coat collar and toss him out the front door.
During regular gambling raids, the man said, Jeanette would stall the police until customers escaped through the basement. The gamblers would honk their horns to taunt the cops as they were driving off.
She gave to widows and sports teams, the octogenarian said, and was loved by many, especially him. As she was dying, her hospital room was regularly filled with flowers.
Jeanette Winters’ name is memorialized in cement near the front door of Tony’s.
“I wish I knew his name,” Bonnie told Huckleberries, "but I remember his wonderful stories. Jeanette built Tony’s. She knew her business. But not her punctuation.”
Recalling the Bard
On this day five years ago, on the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, Tom Wobker lost his battle with cancer. Downtowners knew Tom as a partner at Pennaluna & Co. Readers of Huckleberries knew Tom by his pseudonym, The Bard of Sherman Avenue. Tom’s little pieces of poetic candy have graced this column for almost 20 years. Huckleberries continues to publish them because they’re still fun and pertinent. Today’s anniversary of Tom’s death is a good time to answer reader Kris Dietz’s question: “Who is The Bard of Sherman Avenue?” Tom’s poetry lives on in a book of his poems, compiled by former Washington state poet laureate Tod Marshall. And, of course, here.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: “Respect your elders,” goes the phrase;/I’ve trouble finding them these days — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“It Keeps Getting Tougher”).
• Sign of the Times; A sign posted between takeout windows at the new Burger King on Ramsey reminds adults to act like, well, adults. It reads: “Please be respectful to our staff. For many, this is their first job. And, let’s be honest, everyone could use a little extra love these days. We ask for your patience & understanding. If there is a problem, please ask for a Manager.”
• Doug Eastwood, who represents North Idaho on the state Parks & Rec board, is busting buttons after reading that Conde Nast Traveler story April 15. An article by Emily Pennington picked the best state park in all 50 states. And the winner from Idaho is (drum roll, please) — Farragut. And the campers, hikers, anglers, and disc golfers who cherish Farragut say: Amen!
• Fan Mail: Deborah Mitchell, a Museum of North Idaho volunteer, chided Huckleberries about that “Selling Sex” item last week for not mentioning local places to buy the book. “Did you know that the Museum sells that book in the gift shop? There is a stack of them right on the front counter. Probably the Well-Read Moose carries it as well. (It does.) Buying local is the right thing to do to support our community.” Mea culpa.
• Message on a kitchen towel for sale at Hurd’s Mercantile in Rockford, Wash., Tuesday: “You are about to exceed the limits of my medication.” Huckleberries approves of this message.
• Former state senator Shawn Keough saw this “Reminder from the Kids” tacked to the backstop at her grandson’s Lakeland Little League field in Rathdrum: “I’m a kid. It’s just a game. My coach is a volunteer. The umps are human. No college scholarships will be handed out today.” Bingo.
Parting Shot
So Daniella Cross of Coeur d’Alene was driving like her “old granny self” at Government Way and Neider Avenue, observing the speed limit and stopping for traffic lights. She was rewarded for her sensible driving with a one-finger salute from a Road Rager with California plates who was mad because she didn’t run a light that had just turned red. The Hot Head pulled his car up far enough to touch the bumper of Daniella’s Hummer. He didn’t know that Daniella’s “Beast” is equipped with a train horn — one installed in the rear. “I put the fear of God into him,” Daniella tells Huckleberries. “It’s amazing what 300 decibels will do to clean underwear.” Daniella swears she only uses the horn on special occasions.
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You can contact D.F. Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.
