Original Home for the
Wurlitzer 30A PianOrchestra
Salida, Colorado.

Laura Even's Parlor House on Front Street in Salida, Colorado.

(Photograph of unknown origin)

Circa the late 1950s, this now drab, stuccoed over, unpretentious looking masonry two-story edifice was once Laura Even's main house or "parlor," located at 129 West Sackett Avenue (formerly Front Street), Salida, Colorado. Originally this brick building would have looked much more in keeping with the period, until its exterior was rudely covered over with a thick layer of stucco. It was common for an ornate orchestrion, as well as other decorative furnishings, to provide color and excitement to an otherwise plain and uninteresting looking building. Laura's "Parlor" was closed down by the City of Salida in 1950.
The "cribs" building, located just across the street from Laura Even's Parlor House on Front Street in Salida, Colorado.

(Photograph of unknown origin)

Circa the late 1950s, the "cribs" building located directly across the street from Laura's main parlor building. Clients would first meet the "girls" in the main house or "parlor," and then, after making a selection, the couple might then scamper across the street to an empty "crib," whereupon they would go about consummating their clandestine business transaction.
Laura Evens' main house or "parlor" circa 2004.

(Photograph courtesy of Earle Kittleman)

Laura Evens' main house or "parlor" circa 2004. Two first floor front windows have been additionally stuccoed over, but some of the original decorative features of the building show through the ugly stucco coating. The building was donated by Laura Evens' daughter to the Monarch Shrine after Laura died in 1953. The sign hanging at the right side edge of the building reads: "Mon-Ark Shrine."
Looking down Sackett Avenue (formerly Front Street), circa 2004.

(Photograph courtesy of Earle Kittleman)

Looking down Sackett Avenue (formerly Front Street), circa 2004, toward what was once Laura Evens' “Parlor,” or amusingly occasionally described as her “Boarding House for Girls,” the two-story stucco faced brick building is located at the corner of Sackett Avenue and "G" Street. At Laura Evens’ death in 1953, the building was bequeathed to the Mon-Arc Shrine. The partially visible red-brick building at picture right is part of the historic Palace Hotel structure.
Some remarks by Salida historian Earle Kittleman:

Laura Evans (sic) operated a brothel for many years in a two-story brick building that she owned at the corner of Sackett Avenue and G Street in Salida. The building was donated by her daughter to the Monarch Shrine after Laura died in 1953 at the age of 91. The exterior brick walls and windows have since been stuccoed over so it now appears as an adobe monolith out of character with the rest of downtown historic Salida. On the opposite side of Sackett Avenue is a row of one-story buildings, which people still refer to as "the cribs." Apparently these too were owned and operated by Laura Evans (sic).

Brothels were listed in the directories of the period by the euphemism "female boarding houses." I believe the so-called cribs across the street are rented out as small apartment units.

I talked this evening with two old time Shriners neither of whom remember anything like an "orchestrion" inside the building. One charter member of the Monarch Shrine remembered visiting Laura Evans (sic) in her last years when she had packed most of her things in trunks and was living in one room in the northeast corner of the building. He recalled that Salidans were disappointed when a Denver lawyer made off with a silver coin-operated telephone shortly after the building was donated to the Monarch Shrine.
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