To say that the Hotel Lester building has an ethnically varied and very colorful past would be a major understatement! Hotel Lester has been the scene of less socially acceptable activities since the 1920’s. Between 1921 and 1923, one of the most colorful residents, Bertha “Bonnie” White, arrived in San Diego. She was born in a two-room shack on a “dry” ranch in Cokeville, Wyoming. Her grandfather, Samuel Whitney Richards, was a first cousin of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church. Ironically, Bonnie’s intention was to open a “respectable” brothel. Her great-niece describes her as “one determined woman,” as Bonnie needed to provide for a very large extended family.