Valentine’s Day often evokes images of rose petals, chocolates, and grand romantic gestures. While you’ll find all of these date night essentials at The Red Lantern, the space offers an expansive vision of love year-round. This love is about coming together to celebrate creative talents and foster connections across our communities.
Inspired by the town’s history of women-owned brothels, Jacquelyn (Jackie) Pope and Jillian Piazza opened their adult boutique in downtown Ketchikan in 2023. Since then, the two have expanded to offer burlesque performances and community events in their space, which prioritizes comfort, inclusivity, and fun.
Throughout their business journey, The Red Lantern has received three loans from Spruce Root to help their vision grow. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Spruce Root provides loans to the businesses leading a regenerative economy in Southeast Alaska communities. The lending process is gradual and intentional, tailored to the individual contexts, needs, and visions of the businesses that we work with.
We caught up with Jackie and Jillian as they were about to re-open their shop after some exciting renovations, just in time for Valentine’s Day! Read on to hear our conversation.
Interview and introduction by Erin O’Farrell, edited for length and clarity
All photos courtesy of The Red Lantern
Can you describe the appeal of starting a small business in Ketchikan? What about the community made you want to contribute in this way?
Jackie Pope: Before opening The Red Lantern, Jillian and I worked together for about seven years at the New York Cafe here in Ketchikan, which is a very community-based place. From working there, we both rediscovered that Ketchikan is a place deeply rooted in community and creativity. The cafe is right on the creek, so we also got to learn a lot about the history of Creek Street and the people who have lived here.
Ketchikan is a creative hub in Southeast Alaska and I don’t think a lot of people think of it like that. But there are tons of bands, artists, dancers and singers. And [starting The Red Lantern] was a really cool opportunity where we got to highlight all these people.
What does The Red Lantern have to offer to the Ketchikan community and to visitors?
Jillian Piazza: Storytelling is at the heart of The Red Lantern, through performance, history and human connection. We’re excited to have a space where folks can come together to create something and share art. That’s really our core.
And visitors get to experience this very special, nuanced space where they can see Ketchikan from more of a local perspective. We want people who visit our community to have that memorable moment of how Ketchikan’s magic touched them. And of course, we want to do that in a respectful way and honor Ketchikan’s roots.
How does your business fit into the history of Creek Street? What factors have been important for you to consider in telling the story of this place and its generational legacies?
Jackie: The history of brothels on Creek Street ties into Red Lantern being women-owned. It’s an honor to talk about these women from 100 years ago that were first cutting their teeth at owning their own business. I love the idea that Jillian and I, as a woman-owned business, are the ones that get to tell a woman’s history of Ketchikan, and really Southeast Alaska – a lot of this history is spread throughout the region.
We have taken a couple different approaches when it comes to the historical aspect and gathering those stories. We’ve read books about this place, we’ve talked to local historians, and we have touched base with the local museum as well.
And then on top of that, we’ve also talked to some elders in town to collect stories that they hold. It’s been fun to not only take that historical- based information, but also stories that we’re gathering from people who lived it and saw it.
It is important that we are respectful of the land that we’re on and talk to the Native communities in Ketchikan to tell certain stories about the history of Creek Street. It can be a touchy subject, because of the racism and colonial harms that are part of Creek Street’s history. This is something that we don’t want to shy away from because it is an important part of history. Navigating these conversations is really about keeping communication open and leading forward with respect.
What would you say are the core values of your business and how those guided your operations and growth?
Jackie: Collaboration, community care and historical respect are our core values.
Our shop aims to be inclusive to all types of people and bodies and sexual orientations.
In terms of our show, we want to do it with historical respect. Jillian was talking to David Kiffer, a local historian in town, and he reminded us that those stories we’re telling– about the history of (Creek Street)– are still present. Descendents of people who lived on the creek are still here. That was one of the big things that drove it home for me– we always want to present our town’s history in a respectful light because someone’s relative might still live here.
We also just have fun with it. We have a lot of creative people working with us and it’s been so great to get together to run these shows.
You’ve expressed that it’s important for your business to be a safe, sex-positive space, especially for queer people and women. Have there been moments over the past couple years when you’ve seen this intention have meaningful results?
Jillian: Absolutely. It’s become one of the things that is so validating and stops you in your tracks to make you think oh man, we are on the right path.
We offer a space for people that is grounded in health and pleasure. There are a lot of people that will come in timid from their past experiences of adult stores – our goal is to immediately make people feel welcome. [Red Lantern] is not your average adult store. You walk in and you see jewelry and light hints of lingerie and it’s just a homier experience overall.
Jackie and I are both queer and involved in the queer community here in Ketchikan– that intentionality shows up in our work as well. We’ve hosted events here and offer products for folks across the gender spectrum.
We’ve had many people come in or give us calls and tell us it was hugely impactful that they felt safe in our space. We’re so grateful that we can offer that.
You’ve received three business loans from Spruce Root– how have they supported the vision for your business?
Jillian: From the get-go, we were trying to find funding to really make our dream come alive. When we first went to traditional banks, there were people who wanted to work with us and appreciated what we’re doing, but had rules that stopped them from lending to us because of our business having anything to do with sex.
We were really fortunate to hear about Spruce Root through a community member of ours. That opened everything up for us.
We immediately were like, wow, we could work with a lender that’s based in community, is in Alaska, and cares about the fundamentals of our community. We would have gone to Spruce Root first, before the banks, if we knew about the organization earlier.
We were surprised to find how personable it was to start the relationship with Spruce Root. It felt like more than a transaction. They really understood how to collaborate and what our goals were and how to get us there. To really work through OK, this is what it’s going to look like, this is what it’s going to cost you, this is what you can expect.
We just felt like they really had a similar vision and our values were aligned.
Was the lending process what you expected?
Jackie: It was easier and harder than I expected.
I think the lending process is always a little harder than you expect, just because it’s a lot of work. I think that would have been the case for any loan. But working with Spruce Root really kind of streamlined it.
I know if anything ever happened that I had a question with, I could always reach out to any of the people at Spruce Root. I wouldn’t feel hesitant about that at all.
I understand you’re in the process of making some renovations to your space right now. Can you talk about what changes are in store?
Jackie: We’ve always had a three-pronged approach with our business.
The first is our shop, which is mostly based for locals. We have a maternity section, toys for sexual pleasure, books that are knowledgeable, as well as lingerie and holistic body products. Then our second approach is our summer shows, and those are more tourist-based. That’s going to be a lot of our bread and butter to keep things sustainable.
And then the third prong is this venue space that we’re in the process of creating in the back of our shop. The space is about a 35-seat black box-style theater. We just finished building the stage out. We want it to be very intimate, which is very in line with burlesque. We want people who come into our venue space to kind of feel like they are a part of the show. So we’re really excited about that.
We also want to open that up to the community as well. We’ve already had people who are yoga instructors reach out to us to offer classes and then other musicians who want to play in the space.
We’re excited to finally get to share this portion of The Red Lantern that we’ve wanted to build from the beginning. It’s been quite the adventure and, quite frankly, we could not have done it without Spruce Root’s help.
Interested in learning more about Spruce Root’s lending process? Find info about the loan services we offer here or reach out to us through our inquiry form to get in touch!