Birdcage Theatre/Fallen Angel Sweet Sin Parlor

The Bird Cage Theatre was a combination theater, saloon, and gambling parlor that operated from 1881 to 1889 in Tombstone, Arizona, during the height of the silver boom.HistoryThe Bird Cage Theatre opened on December 26, 1881, It was owned by Lottie and William "Billy" Hutchinson. Hutchison, a variety performer, originally intended to present respectable family shows like he'd seen in San Francisco that were thronged by large crowds. After the Theatre opened, they hosted a Ladies Night for the respectable women of Tombstone, who could attend for free. But the economics of Tombstone didn't support their aspirations. They soon canceled the Ladies Night and began offering baser entertainment that appealed to the rough mining crowd. Once inside, customers could buy a drink at the long bar. The bar was made in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, shipped on the Star of India around the tip of South America to the west coast of Mexico, then wagon trained the rest of the way. The main hall contained a 15ft stage about above the main floor, and an orchestra pit. The stage was lit by a row of gas jets along the front side. There were fourteen boxes on two balconies on either side of the main hall. A dumbwaiter at the end of the bar was used to hoist up the whiskey, beer and cigars to the patrons in the box seats.In the basement, legend says that a poker room was the site of the longest-running poker game in history. Played continuously twenty-four hours a day for eight years, five months, and three days, legend has it that as much as $10,000,000 changed hands during the marathon game, with the house retaining 10 percent. Some of the participants were Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, George Hearst, and Adolphus Busch of the Busch Brewery.