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Bordellos of Blair Street: The story of Silverton, Colorado's notorious red light district
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2020
Book #7 of 2020: "Bordellos of Blair Street: The Story of Silverton, Colorado's Notorious Red Light District" by Allan G. Bird (1986).
It took me a little while to get through this book. However, it was worth it. This book is special to Emm's family in that Nonno's family was one of the original settling families of Silverton, Colorado. Silverton. I learned a lot about the mining practices in Silverton (which flourished from the late 1870s until just after Prohibition). The book consists mostly of a hodge-podge collection of interviews and news stories taken from the newspapers in and around Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. I wanted to read this to ge a little background before we go to Colorado this summer. I didn't realize how completely crazy Colorado was until the mid 20th century and also how badass some of the characters were.
I read about a guy that blew up the lover of his estranged wife with two sticks of dynamite while he slept. Of how the ladies of the night that worked on Blair Street were not permitted to leave and called "inmates" and prevented from walking around the town of Silverton, except for the hours of 4pm-6pm when a few restaurants would serve them and they could pick up their mail. Boys until they were teenagers could earn money fetching groceries, mail, and necessities for the "inmates".
Most fascinating for me was reading about Nonno's family. His uncle Battist Mattivi (Matties) [they changed their name after emigrating from northern Italy] brought his wife Ottalia Roccabruna (Nonno's aunt) to Silverton where they had several children. John and Joe (Nonno's cousins) are the older gentlemen in the photos and were interviewed on multiple occasions for the book. They were some of the boys that ran errands as young kids for some of the prostitutes. Silverton is part of the highest elevation county in Colorado and in 1918 during the Flu Pandemic became known for the highest death rate per capital in all of the USA. At least 148 people died, however Nonno's uncle Battist made a broth of homemade chicken stock and red wine mixture. Only one of his patients died and he ferried his concoction all around the town to the hospitals.
Also pictured and interesting to read about was "Nigger" Lola Dagget, who was Nonno's babysitter when he was born in 1923. She was a madame, and at the time the only African-American madame in Silverton. Though she couldn't drive, she always had the nicest cars and had a white pimp named Bud Martin who took her wherever she needed to go.
Nonno's (born across the street from the hamburger stand that is near the train stop today) aunt and uncle owned the Matties' Boarding House and Welcome Saloon and eventually the Monte Carlo gambling hall. Most of these buildings had a saloon on one side and then a boarding house on the other where miners and ladies had "cribs". Working girls in their "cribs" or boarding houses hung up examination certificates to certify they were not affected by venereal disease. (According to John and Joe Matties (Mattivi), only 2 people ever contracted VD in Silverton and were promptly run out of town).
It was fascinating to read about how property changed hands often, and how miners were kept on payment plans to stay in debt to the mines and the gambling halls and saloons. It was truly part of the Wild West story you miss reading in the mainstream media, tucked into the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.
Though many of the original buildings have been destroyed by fire or taken down and repurposed, I'm excited to see part of Emm's family's history in Silverton this summer when we go there. The Mattie's Welcome Saloon still stands, though it is now called Natalia's 1912 restaurant.
Allan Bird doesn't create the easiest to read narrative of this small town in rural Colorado, but he includes some fascinating little characters, murders-for-hire, suicide tales, and of course a little bit of gambling and prostitution.
For readability I give it a 2/5. For fascinating and personally relevant information related to Nonno's childhood: 5/5
It took me a little while to get through this book. However, it was worth it. This book is special to Emm's family in that Nonno's family was one of the original settling families of Silverton, Colorado. Silverton. I learned a lot about the mining practices in Silverton (which flourished from the late 1870s until just after Prohibition). The book consists mostly of a hodge-podge collection of interviews and news stories taken from the newspapers in and around Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. I wanted to read this to ge a little background before we go to Colorado this summer. I didn't realize how completely crazy Colorado was until the mid 20th century and also how badass some of the characters were.
I read about a guy that blew up the lover of his estranged wife with two sticks of dynamite while he slept. Of how the ladies of the night that worked on Blair Street were not permitted to leave and called "inmates" and prevented from walking around the town of Silverton, except for the hours of 4pm-6pm when a few restaurants would serve them and they could pick up their mail. Boys until they were teenagers could earn money fetching groceries, mail, and necessities for the "inmates".
Most fascinating for me was reading about Nonno's family. His uncle Battist Mattivi (Matties) [they changed their name after emigrating from northern Italy] brought his wife Ottalia Roccabruna (Nonno's aunt) to Silverton where they had several children. John and Joe (Nonno's cousins) are the older gentlemen in the photos and were interviewed on multiple occasions for the book. They were some of the boys that ran errands as young kids for some of the prostitutes. Silverton is part of the highest elevation county in Colorado and in 1918 during the Flu Pandemic became known for the highest death rate per capital in all of the USA. At least 148 people died, however Nonno's uncle Battist made a broth of homemade chicken stock and red wine mixture. Only one of his patients died and he ferried his concoction all around the town to the hospitals.
Also pictured and interesting to read about was "Nigger" Lola Dagget, who was Nonno's babysitter when he was born in 1923. She was a madame, and at the time the only African-American madame in Silverton. Though she couldn't drive, she always had the nicest cars and had a white pimp named Bud Martin who took her wherever she needed to go.
Nonno's (born across the street from the hamburger stand that is near the train stop today) aunt and uncle owned the Matties' Boarding House and Welcome Saloon and eventually the Monte Carlo gambling hall. Most of these buildings had a saloon on one side and then a boarding house on the other where miners and ladies had "cribs". Working girls in their "cribs" or boarding houses hung up examination certificates to certify they were not affected by venereal disease. (According to John and Joe Matties (Mattivi), only 2 people ever contracted VD in Silverton and were promptly run out of town).
It was fascinating to read about how property changed hands often, and how miners were kept on payment plans to stay in debt to the mines and the gambling halls and saloons. It was truly part of the Wild West story you miss reading in the mainstream media, tucked into the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.
Though many of the original buildings have been destroyed by fire or taken down and repurposed, I'm excited to see part of Emm's family's history in Silverton this summer when we go there. The Mattie's Welcome Saloon still stands, though it is now called Natalia's 1912 restaurant.
Allan Bird doesn't create the easiest to read narrative of this small town in rural Colorado, but he includes some fascinating little characters, murders-for-hire, suicide tales, and of course a little bit of gambling and prostitution.
For readability I give it a 2/5. For fascinating and personally relevant information related to Nonno's childhood: 5/5
January 24, 2019
Great book , loved it, Great stories. I learned so much about Silverthorn.
January 14, 2020
Does a great job at what it is doing. Lots of fun stories.
September 9, 2012
I tool a narrow gauge train to an abandoned/ruined silver mine in Colorado and walked around the ghost town. This book tells what it was like when the silver was running. It was lawless, cleanless and baudy. But very interesting...............
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews