Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 7 February 2017
New book details old New Orleans’ hooker directories

JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) —
“Josie came to this city ...
to have a good time and
she is going to have it while
she lasts,” one madam ad-
vertised in a 1903 directory
of Storyville, then New Or-
leans’ flourishing legal red-
light district.
It’s the ads that add inter-
est to the pocket-sized
directories sold a century
ago for 25 cents, Pamela
D. Arceneaux writes in
“Guidebooks to Sin: The
Blue Books of Storyville,
New Orleans.” The $50
coffee-table book will be
released Saturday by The
Historic New Orleans Col-
lection.
A release party for the
2,000-copy edition was
planned Friday. An exhibit
of the booklets, which also
are digitized on the muse-
um’s website, will open in
April.
Advertisements for broth-
els, saloons, liquor, and This 1906 image released by the The Historic New Orleans
hangover cures “reveal Collection shows a page from a directory of prostitutes in New
Orleans’ that contained numerous advertisements for brothels,
how madams sought to saloons, restaurants, alcoholic beverages, and cigars.
portray their houses and Associated Press
offer a glimpse into what This image provided by the The Historic New Orleans Collec-
a night in Storyville might tion shows an undated photo of Rita Walker from Blue Book, one
have been like,” wrote Ar- of the pocket-sized directories of New Orleans prostitutes pub-
ceneaux, curator of rare lished more than a century ago.
books for the French Quar- Associated Press
ter museum. Many adver-
tise the music halls, restau- dividual issues may have ceneaux said. One staple
rants, bars and saloons that been printed. But so few Blue Book ad touted two
also sprang up in the area. of them seem to have sur- risque “French balls” on
Most people called it “The vived,” she said. the Saturday before Mardi
District” back then, Arce- “The Blue Book” was one of Gras and Fat Tuesday itself.
neaux said. the most comprehensive “Fun is the watchword”
The area also came to of at least six guides pub- and “good times reign su-
be known as Storyville be- lished in New Orleans. The preme” are repeated in
cause Alderman Sidney first known, likely published ads for numerous brothels.
Story wrote the 1897 ordi- before the 1900 Carnival So is “a visit will teach more
nance restricting prostitu- season, used an asterisk to than pen can describe.”
tion to 16 blocks just out- denote “a first class house, Liquor, champagne and
side the French Quarter. where the finest of women beer, cigars, restaurants
New Orleans wasn’t the and nothing but wine is and saloons, and the oc-
first U.S. city to restrict pros- sold.” casional ad for a pawn
titutes to one area. Virginia Restaurateur and state shop, taxi service, laundry
City, Nevada; Omaha, Ne- legislator Tom Anderson, or purported venereal dis-
braska; Waco and San An- known as “the mayor of ease cure also appeared.
tonio, Texas, all did so ear- Storyville,” apparently pub- One attorney advertised in
lier, Arceneaux said. lished eight-page, vest- nearly every Blue Book.
Bordello guides date back pocket-sized guides with Storyville was shut down
at least to a 1565 list of 210 30 or 40 listings and ads in 1917, after America en-
prostitutes in Venice, Italy. only for his own three res- tered World War I and dis-
New Orleans, Philadelphia, taurants, likely in 1903 and covered how many recruits
New York, Milwaukee, Chi- 1906. had syphilis or gonorrhea.
cago, Louisville and Los Ads in the larger book- “Across the country, similar
Angeles are just a few of lets show that they were restrictions were made on
the U.S. cities where 19th- aimed at white men, at any area of vice or prostitu-
century guides were pub- least middle-class, who tion within five miles of any
lished, Arceneaux said. had come to New Orleans military installation,” Arce-
“Thousands of these in- for the Carnival season, Ar- neaux said.q