Hotel, Bodie California. Situated in the hills of the high desert landscape east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at over 8,000 feet, Bodie was home to over 7,000 people and 2,000 buildings. Gold was discovered here in 1859 by W.S. Bodey and the town boomed in 1877. In its heyday, this wild town had 65 saloons, 3 breweries, 2 banks, a whole street of brothels, a large Chinatown complete with opium houses, gambling halls, saloons and a Taoist temple, hotels and boarding houses, a few churches and a jail. It had a reputation for wickedness, badmen and “the worst climate out of doors”.
Winters at this high altitude camp were severe with temperatures that sometimes dropped to 40 below zero and snows that drifted to twenty feet. Killings were almost daily events, and robberies, stage holdups, and street fights with and without guns were common. Its reputation was summed up by one little girl who wrote in her diary after learning that her family was moving to the remote and infamous town, ”Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.”
