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The Bird Cage Theatre
Named for the 14 cages suspended from the ceiling in the main hall where the 'ladies of the evening' were on display, the Bird Cage Theatre quickly earned itself a reputation and was rated the "wickedest" night club in America by the New York Times. Well known for its wild and raunchy nights, the Bird Cage offered its patrons lots of gambling, liquor and 'evening entertainment'. When the Mining Boom ended in 1889, the Bird Cage was completely boarded up with all its furnishings intact. In 1934 it re-opened as a historic landmark and displays its contents in their original state as they were in the time of the Earps. Many relics of Old Tombstone are on display here including the Black Moriah, the legendary black hearse that carried many of Tombstone's dearly departed to their final resting place in Boothill. Many visitors find that the most compelling display inside the Bird Cage is the downstairs poker room. All the furnishings are said to be exactly as they were the day the Theatre was boarded up in 1889, including the positioning of the chairs and the bottle of liquor on the nearby bar. Several smaller rooms open off of this poker room as well, where the men could be 'entertained' by the ladies who worked in this 'House of Ill Fame'. Pictures of the young girls and women who worked in the Bird Cage line the halls and stairways, giving you a haunting glimpse into the eyes of the past.
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