Here is an article written by Elaine Williams of the Lewiston Morning Tribune.  It includes a lot of history on the Pistol Palace.

-Sunday, May 17, 2009

    A mystery surrounds the second floor of the Lolo Sporting Goods store building, where a new overnight accommodation, the Pistol Palace, recently opened.

    A brothel could have been a former tenant of the space. The official story goes like this: The building at 1028 Main St. was constructed in 1927 and a grocery store, operated by Dexter Rich, filled the first floor. Rich intended to run a brothel on the upper level, but changed his plans when he got married and his wife objected.

    Other evidence points to the possibility that at some point it was used for prostitution, said Lori Lohman, owner of the Pistol Palace. What else might explain the scuffs under the wheels of almost every bedpost on hardwood so well maintained it didn't need to be refinished? asks Lohman, noting bordellos     used to be legal in Lewiston.

    Customers of Lolo Sporting Goods, which she also owns, have told her the brothel did function, and, at different stages in its past, it was also a boarding house and apartment.

    Whatever the history, Lohman hopes people will be spending the night at the re-purposed space for decades to come. The entire floor rents for $500 a night, not counting a $250 damage deposit.

    She hopes it will attract families visiting Lewiston for weddings or reunions and groups of buddies who are here to hunt, fish or participate in shooting events.

    Lohman doesn't rent individual rooms because of how the space is structured. A room that overlooks Lewiston's Main Street has a bar and tables that seat 18. A skylight allows sunlight to flow through a hallway that leads past seven bedrooms to a sitting area and kitchen.

    None of the seven bedrooms have their own bathrooms, but six have their own sinks. Two of the bathrooms have toilets, showers and bathtubs, but no sinks. A third has a toilet, a bathtub and sink, but no shower.

    The beds and the dressers in each room are the ones that were there when the building was constructed in the 1920s, but Lohman replaced the springs and mattresses. She also gave the rooms names that play up its possible past, such as "Trixie" and "Lucky Lulu."

    Lohman left the interior window frames during the renovation, but added new windows on the outside to provide insulation and reduce noise.

    It doesn't have television or high-speed Internet and no one cleans the rooms while the floor is occupied. The morning wake-up call comes from a wind-up alarm clock. "We tried to keep it the same as it would have been back in the day."

    But Pistol Palace has some amenities not regularly available in other hotels, such as its private sitting area, a full kitchen for meal preparation and its own laundry room.

    Lohman's concept for the business came from her experience working at AIA Travel as a travel agent. That business operated the Dahmen House, at the time, a private set of upscale hotel rooms with luxuries such as jacuzzi bath tubs in an upper story of a downtown building.

    When Lohman acquired the Lolo Sporting Goods building in 2005, she immediately thought a similar, but less fancy concept, would work in the building.

    The hospitality end of her ventures is the part that Lohman, who was previously an environmental technician at ATK, enjoys the most. She would love to sell Lolo Sporting Goods to someone who would run it in the same location and rent the space from her.

    The store is a Lewiston institution that sells guns and ammunition. Because of that, Lohman is committed to running it no matter how long it takes to find a buyer. "I have lots of great customers. They're a dedicated bunch. They have really supported me tremendously, so I couldn't let them down."

    The telephone number of the Pistol Palace is (208) 798-0909.