June's Café

June's Café. Circa 1903. In spite of its more respectable Stedman Street address, this building , along with its Creek Street neighbors , was one of the earliest houses of prostitution, built soon after the Town Council banned prostitution to this side of the Creek., June's Café was established in the early 1930s. Nothing is known about its founder or namesake, nor to what extent prostitution continued in the building. It was purchased by Vivian Inman in the late 1940s. She lived here, operating her little café business until she died in 1999, at the age of eighty-eight., A well-known and flamboyant personality on the Creek, Vivian's entrepreneurial tenure was the longest of any black American in Ketchikan. Her café was once featured on “Good Morning America.” After that, she promoted her chili as “world famous”., “June,” as many people thought of her because of the name of her business, was a permanent fixture by the window for nearly half a century, smoking and waiting for customers to come in and enjoy “the best chili in town.”, Captions , (Top) Stedman Street waterfront, June's Café Building at center, circa 1905. , (Bottom) The original June's Café, 1930s.