Page 32 - aruba-today-20170617

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 17 June 2017
New book details old New Orleans’ hooker directories

U.S. cities where 19th-cen- to New Orleans for the Car-
tury guides were published, nival season, Arceneaux
Arceneaux said. said. One staple Blue
“Thousands of these in- Book ad touted two risque
dividual issues may have “French balls” on the Satur-
been printed. But so few day before Mardi Gras and
of them seem to have sur- Fat Tuesday itself.
vived,” she said. “Fun is the watchword”
“The Blue Book” was one of and “good times reign su-
the most comprehensive preme” are repeated in
of at least six guides pub- ads for numerous brothels.
lished in New Orleans. The So is “a visit will teach more
first known, likely published than pen can describe.”
before the 1900 Carnival Liquor, champagne and
season, used an asterisk to beer, cigars, restaurants
denote “a first class house, and saloons, and the oc-
where the finest of women casional ad for a pawn
and nothing but wine is shop, taxi service, laundry
sold.” or purported venereal dis-
Restaurateur and state ease cure also appeared.
legislator Tom Anderson, One attorney advertised in
known as “the mayor of nearly every Blue Book.
Storyville,” apparently pub- Storyville was shut down
lished eight-page, vest- in 1917, after America en-
pocket-sized guides with tered World War I and dis-
30 or 40 listings and ads covered how many recruits
only for his own three res- had syphilis or gonorrhea.
taurants, likely in 1903 and “Across the country, similar
1906. restrictions were made on
Ads in the larger booklets any area of vice or prostitu-
show that they were aimed tion within five miles of any
at white men, at least mid- military installation,” Arce-
dle-class, who had come neaux said.q

This image provided by the The Historic New Orleans Collection shows an undated photo of Rita
Walker from Blue Book, one of the pocket-sized directories of New Orleans prostitutes published
more than a century ago.
Associated Press

JANET McCONNAUGHEY A release party for the District” back then, Arce-
Associated Press 2,000-copy edition was neaux said. The area also
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — planned Friday. An exhibit came to be known as Sto-
“Josie came to this city ... of the booklets, which also ryville because Alderman
to have a good time and are digitized on the muse- Sidney Story wrote the 1897
she is going to have it while um’s website, will open in ordinance restricting prosti-
she lasts,” one madam ad- April. tution to 16 blocks just out-
vertised in a 1903 directory Advertisements for broth- side the French Quarter.
of Storyville, then New Or- els, saloons, liquor, and New Orleans wasn’t the
leans’ flourishing legal red- hangover cures “reveal first U.S. city to restrict pros-
light district. how madams sought to titutes to one area. Virginia
It’s the ads that add interest portray their houses and City, Nevada; Omaha, Ne-
to the pocket-sized direc- offer a glimpse into what braska; Waco and San An-
tories sold a century ago a night in Storyville might tonio, Texas, all did so ear-
for 25 cents, Pamela D. Ar- have been like,” wrote Ar- lier, Arceneaux said.
ceneaux writes in “Guide- ceneaux, curator of rare Bordello guides date back
books to Sin: The Blue Books books for the French Quar- at least to a 1565 list of 210
of Storyville, New Orleans.” ter museum. Many adver- prostitutes in Venice, Italy.
The $50 coffee-table book tise the music halls, restau- New Orleans, Philadelphia, This 1906 image released by the The Historic New Orleans Col-
will be released Saturday rants, bars and saloons that New York, Milwaukee, Chi- lection shows a page from a directory of prostitutes in New Or-
leans’ that contained numerous advertisements for brothels, sa-
by The Historic New Orleans also sprang up in the area. cago, Louisville and Los An- loons, restaurants, alcoholic beverages, and cigars.
Collection. Most people called it “The geles are just a few of the Associated Press