Old Arcade Trading Company

The Old Arcade Trading Company operates as a wholesome family-run store, and has done so for three generations. Yet this cheery facade and novelty extravaganza of a gift shop is built upon the foundation of a rather different trade, as the building was formerly a bordello.

Before keepsake T-shirts, postcards, and cowboy hats bedecked the interior, the Old Arcade Trading Company greeted its patrons with large pool tables and lively gambling booths out front, while the back was reserved for customers seeking “cribs,” or small rooms that catered to nighttime affairs.

This was quite common for the American West in the nineteenth century. The mining trade was not the only booming business, and sex work—though illegal in many territories—was both destigmatized and recognized as a profitable path across the frontier. As with most industries, there were hierarchies: highclass courtesans entertained in deluxe parlor houses, while the less fortunate hustled out of saloons or on
street corners.

But a few more scandals occurred within the Old Arcade’s framework. When its current owner purchased the building, a room was discovered beneath its floorboards with enough space to fit a ladder and three people huddled together. The Prohibition-era bottles left strewn on the ground implied the Old Arcade was either a stash point for bootleggers or
run by apocalypse preppers sneaking a few drinks underground.

Today’s owners have elevated the offerings from moonshine but still create batches of their own delicacy on-site. While perusing western relics, customers can enjoy the family’s fresh fudge made in-house—a welcome indulgence in a town carved out by hardworking folks looking to start a new life out west, without abandoning all their vices.

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