Thirteen Twenty Four Sherman

Ann Brass turned 18 in May of 1918, and a few days later, her father passed away from an unfortunate accident. The family, wealthy and influential in the small but sophisticated town of Wallace, Idaho, faced dramatic changes in status. Her mother, now widowed at 43 and still raising her six-year-old son, faced financial devastation. She had no legal standing to run her husband's business, and her only income at the time came from selling handmade corsets door-to-door and collecting rent from three apartment buildings in Wallace's red-light district. Ann, her only daughter, was sent to business school and returned to help manage her mother's affairs. Ann learned the hard truth about women in society and decided to always be the captain of her ship. To do so, she needed to adapt and live outside social convention.

Fast forward to 1961, when she retired from bookkeeping; she moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to be with her daughters and grandchildren. Together, they opened a small beer garden and introduced Pizza to the small community of 14,000 people in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In a little over three years, the 1,000-square-foot beer garden grew into a 4,500-square-foot entertainment venue and sold over 1,000,000 gallons of Lucky Lager beer. They called their beer garden The Rathskeller Inn, and it became one of the most successful entertainment venues of its type west of the Mississippi, hosting over 1200 customers a weekend and booking gold-record rock groups of the time. From the Dave Clark Five to the Cascades to Paul Revere and the Raiders, the business grew to over 7,000 square feet, and it opened a second location in Moscow, Idaho, near the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman.

Ann and her daughters ran it successfully for twenty years, always overcoming adversity they faced as women business owners. From fires to closures to public demands to close, they survived and thrived. Customers regularly came from the Northwest states and Canada. The tavern became popular with Vietnam soldiers when the Cascades toured with the USO, bringing soldiers and vets from around the country who wanted to experience it. For years, it was not unusual to travel across the US and meet people who had been there. Ann was the matriarch and CEO, running it until it was sold in 1980. As their success grew, a crime family's involvement became a severe threat to their autonomy.

1324 Sherman is a historical journey told through the eyes of the owner's youngest daughter. 1324 creates a vivid, vibrant, and captivating story about the changing social dynamics of the 1960s and 1970s, all framed around the evolving language of music, the baby boomers who lived it, and the struggles her female family members faced as women and business owners. It celebrates the baby boomer generation's youthful exuberance and hope while also being transparent about the struggles the family faced as they challenged scrutiny, social condemnation, and adversity. The imprint it left on customers and the town was memorable and life-changing for many generations of customers whose lives were forever changed by their experience at The Rathskeller Inn at 1324 Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.