뷰트 오디오 투어: 저택, 미스터리, 그리고 광부들의 유산

To spot the Hotel Finlen, just look for the tall brick building with lots of windows and a big, glowing sign on top that proudly says "HOTEL FINLEN"-you can’t miss it! Alright, as you stand here outside the Hotel Finlen, picture yourself whisked back to New Year’s Day 1924. The streets were alive with excitement-Butte’s own slice of New York had just opened its doors! This place was the brainchild of James Finlen, who dreamed up a masterpiece inspired by the Astor Hotel. He must’ve thought, “If you can’t go to Manhattan, bring Manhattan to Montana!” They finished the first towering structure at the eye-popping cost of $750,000, which today would buy you about 1% of Manhattan, or so it feels. They almost built a second matching tower, but the 1929 stock market crash said, “Whoa there, cowboy!”-and all the plans froze. Imagine the famous footsteps echoing in its marble halls: Charles Lindbergh, straight from his sky-high adventures, and Presidents Truman and Kennedy-maybe swapping stories or sneaking a peek at Butte’s nightlife. For nearly 100 years, this hotel’s watched Butte’s fortunes rise and fall, changed hands, changed times, but never lost that grand, slightly mysterious, old-world charm. Soaking it all in? Good! Let’s keep exploring, because every brick here has a story, and I’m only just getting warmed up!

To spot the Pekin Noodle Parlor, just look up for the glowing red neon sign that says "PEKIN CHOP SUEY" hanging from the building above a narrow glass storefront on South Main Street. Now, be sure to give that neon sign a nod-it’s no ordinary sign, and this isn’t just any restaurant. You’re standing in front of the Pekin Noodle Parlor, the oldest continually operating Chinese restaurant in the entire United States. That bright glow first lit up Butte’s night sky back in 1916, and if neon could talk, it might argue it’s nearly as famous as the food inside. But let’s rewind to the late 1800s, when the hills around Butte were teeming with gold miners and the clang of pickaxes could be heard. Chinese immigrants flocked here for a chance at fortune, only to be met with suspicion and anti-Chinese sentiment. Driven out of the mines, many Chinatown families settled just steps away from where you’re standing now, turning this neighborhood into “China Alley”-a bustling stretch filled with markets, laundries, noodle parlors, and as legend would have it, the odd underground game or two. By its peak, maybe 600 people called Chinatown home, though relentless boycotts from the local labor unions forced most to leave, and by 1940, fewer than 100 remained. Amidst these challenges, two determined relatives, Hum Yow and Tam Kwong Yee, came together to open a little eatery dedicated to serving comfort to everyone from miners with pockets full of dust, to tuxedoed theater-goers. In 1911, they settled into this very spot, right on top of a storefront that once hosted herbal shops-and, depending on who you ask, some not-at-all-legal gambling in the basement. Upstairs, the entire restaurant would have looked quite different: pale green walls, lush green curtains, and an almost-tropical vibe. These days? Walk up the stairs and step into a corridor flush with salmon-orange walls, hand-built partitions, and cheery red lanterns, all designed to whet your appetite before you even see a menu-talk about color psychology! The heart of Pekin has always been its family. The Tam clan has stuffed fortune, flavor, and a little humor into every plate of chow mein or yaka mein, their famous “wet noodles.” When immigrants like Ding Kuen Tam-better known around here as Danny Wong-took up the reins, he and his wife Sharon Chu welcomed everyone like long-lost cousins. Drop in on any weekend during their reign, and you might have heard diners giggling in the semi-private booths, with servers carting out trays that boasted the taste of better times. In recent years, the Pekin Noodle Parlor has been celebrated as an American Classic by the James Beard Foundation, but some say you haven’t truly found glory until you’ve seen Danny’s original 1916 dining tables-still here, creaky and proud. This neon-lit noodle parlor is proof that even as eras change and flavors come and go, the warmth of good food and the hope of a better future still shine brightest-just like that red neon sign above you. Are you ready for the next stop, or hungry for a plate of noodles yet?

Look ahead for a two-story red-brick building with faded signs that read “Mai Wah Noodles & Chop Suey” along the top-its green and red window trims will help you spot it right on West Mercury Street. Imagine you’re walking through Butte in the early 1900s: the smell of sizzling noodles coming from the Mai Wah Noodle Parlor, conversations drifting in English and Chinese, and stacks of imported goods crowding the Wah Chong Tai Mercantile next door. These historic storefronts were once the busy heart of America’s largest Chinatown between Minneapolis and Seattle-and if you think Montana isn’t the place for a plate of classic chop suey, you might be surprised! Chin Hin Doon traveled all the way from Guangdong, escaping famine, and by 1894 had carved out a thriving spot in Butte’s wild mix of copper and culture. His son Albert ran the shop through the decades, selling everything from tea to silk, and even offering beds to Chinese miners and merchants in need of a home (it wasn’t exactly the Hilton, but it did the trick). Today, the museum overflows with 2,500 artifacts, and the Wah Chong Tai building remains the country’s only original Chinese store of its kind. Thanks to a wave of modern support-like a grant for restoration in 2018-the spirit of Butte’s Chinatown is alive, resilient, and ready to serve up some stories with those noodles.

To spot the Dumas Brothel, just look for the bold red, two-story brick building with tall iron-barred windows and a small entrance stoop-right here on Mercury Street, standing out from its pale neighbors. Welcome to one of Butte’s most notorious landmarks-and probably the only place in town where the phrase “red light district” comes with a historical tour! The Dumas Brothel, founded in 1890 by two French-Canadian brothers, Joseph and Arthur Nadeau, has seen more wild nights and tight-lipped days than most museums could ever dream of. Picture this street in the late 1800s: the city was booming, the copper mines roaring, and miners poured into town, pockets heavy with fresh wages and spirits high. The Dumas Brothel quickly became the centerpiece of Mercury Street, right in the thick of Butte’s “twilight zone.” Back then, East Galena and Mercury Street were lined with dance halls, saloons, and gambling houses, a real-life Wild West backdrop. You’re gazing at what was once the classiest-and definitely the most infamous-brothel in Butte, called the Dumas after Joseph’s wife, Delia Nadeau, née Dumas. Its bright facade housed more than just secrets; it saw decades of miners, politicians, and lovers slip through those doors. Brothels weren’t just tolerated here, they contributed good money to the city, paying the police five-dollar “fines” so often, you’d think it was a membership fee. Even mayors and senators, like Lee Mantle, had a stake in the brothel business. By 1903, the Dumas was thriving so much, they had to dig out a whole basement of “cribs”-tiny rooms for quick visits-connected by tunnels to Butte’s business corridor. Some clients arrived through the infamous Venus Alley behind the building, others snuck in directly from the sidewalk via stairs. Inside, working girls leaned out of their windows in “varying degrees of undress,” calling out to passing miners. Newspaper reports called it “abandon that has no trace of modesty”-basically, don’t expect to hear shy voices in the archives! Even reformers tried to clean up the area with new ordinances requiring longer skirts and “no indecent exposures,” but all that resulted in was “long dresses and long faces,” as grumbled in the local paper. Police, meanwhile, were a little less concerned with reform and a little more interested in their cut. Through crackdowns, World War I, Prohibition, and even a government order to shut all brothels in the 1940s, the Dumas kept its doors open-now disguised as a boarding house with a secret steel door, code words, and a “peek-and-you’re-in” policy. By the 1950s, services cost five bucks, and after a bit of tragedy involving madams and star-crossed lovers, the place ended up in Ruby Garrett’s hands. She famously paid off the cops monthly and kept the place going until 1982, making the Dumas the longest-running brothel in America-a true 92-year streak. If only loyalty cards had been a thing! When it finally shut down, the brothel changed hands: first as a museum, then an antiques shop, and now it’s being slowly restored. The Dumas is open for tours-every other Saturday, paranormal investigations included. Some say the ghost of Elinore Knott, one of its most memorable madams, never left. Guests report cold spots and mysterious footsteps in those infamous tunnels. Maybe she’s making sure no one cuts corners on the renovation! So, whether you’re into Victorian architecture, scandalous history, or just want a souvenir from arguably the naughtiest museum in Montana, the Dumas is open for curiosity-and maybe a ghost story or two. I wouldn’t recommend leaning out the windows, though; you might end up in someone’s future audio tour!

Look for a bright blue house with a brick lower story, wooden shingles up top, and a welcoming porch recessed to the left-it's set a little back from the sidewalk with a big, three-section window looking right out at you. Now, as you’re standing here, imagine this street packed with the sounds of miners heading home from a tough shift, boots stomping the concrete paths on either side of this blue house. This is the Burton K. Wheeler House, home to one of America’s most independent-minded politicians. Back in the early 1900s, this wasn’t just any neighborhood-it was a tight-knit working-class community, where the next U.S. senator lived shoulder-to-shoulder with folks wielding pickaxes instead of pen and paper. Wheeler bought this house around 1908, right before taking Washington by storm. Though he quickly made enough as a lawyer to move somewhere fancy, he loved this spot-and joked it helped him score votes. It wasn’t all plain sailing. Picture Wheeler here in the 1920s, the Teapot Dome scandal rocking the headlines, as he went after corrupt prosecutors with the tenacity of a Butte bulldog. Then in 1924, he joined the Progressive Party ticket and ran for Vice President, pulling in more votes as a third-party candidate than anyone else until the wild days of 1968! Wheeler’s story didn’t stop there. He battled big shots in D.C., opposed both FDR’s New Deal at home, and the push to get the U.S. involved in World War II. Not surprisingly, standing his ground cost him his Senate seat in 1946-but he never stopped fighting for what he believed. If you’re looking for a house that witnessed bold speeches, tough decisions, and maybe even some heated dinner debates, you’re in the right spot. You might even say standing outside Wheeler’s house is like being at ground zero for political drama-Montana style.