Departing from Stedman St is Creek St (a boardwalk built over Ketchikan Creek on pilings), a history book of misshapen wood-paneled houses painted in bright colors to deflect the heaviness of the oft-sodden climate. This was Ketchikan’s famed red-light district until prostitution became illegal in 1954. During Creek St’s heyday, it supported up to 30 brothels and became known as the only place in Alaska where ‘the fishermen and the fish went upstream to spawn.’