Harlots of the Barbary Coast by Herbert Asbury

Harlots of the Barbary Coast

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The lowest of the newly arrived harlots joined their sisters in sin in the shabby dives on Telegraph Hill and along the waterfront, but others opened, or became inmates of, elaborate establishments around Portsmouth Square. By close and diligent attention to business, many of these women amassed fortunes; one popular French courtesan is said to have banked fifty thousand dollars clear profit during her first year of professional activity in the New World. Several married prominent men, and themselves became ladies of consequence, successfully persuading the dead past to bury its dead. Because of the lack of virtuous women, the prostitutes, especially those who dwelt in the elegant bagnios on Portsmouth Square, took an active part in the social life of early San Francisco. They were in particular much sought after as partners at the fancy-dress and masquerade balls with which the frolicsome miner sought to divert himself.

Harlots worked all over the American West.

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There, according to an early historian, “the most extraordinary scenes were exhibited, as might have been expected when the actors and dancers were chiefly hot-headed young men, flush of money and half frantic with excitement, and lewd girls, freed from the necessity of all moral restraint.” These functions were usually held in one of the large gambling houses, the gaming tables being temporarily moved to one side to make room for the festivities, although play never ceased. They were announced to the public by notices in the newspapers, and by placards posted in the streets and public houses, all bearing in large letters the warning: “NO WEAPONS ADMITTED.”

Several men were stationed at the door, and as each prospective merry-maker entered, he was required to surrender, for the duration of the festivities, his knife, revolver, or pistol, for which he received a check. If anyone protested that he carried no weapon, the statement was considered so preposterous that he was promptly searched. Almost invariably a knife or a fire-arm was found secreted in some unusual part of his clothing. Music for the dancing was furnished by the regular gambling-house orchestra, but on the program of entertainment there was always a soloist who sang at least once, to the air of O Susannah! the miners' favorite song:

I came from Quakerdelphia,
With my washbowl on my knee;
I’m going to California,
The gold dust for to see.
It rained all night the day I left,
The weather it was dry;
The sun so hot I froze to death,
Oh, Anna, don’t you cry.

Oh, Ann Eliza!
Don’t you cry for me.
I’m going to California
With my washbowl on my knee.

I soon shall be in Frisco,
And then I’ll look around;
And when I see the gold lumps there
I’ll pick them off the ground.
I’ll scrape the mountains clean, old girl;
I’ll drain the rivers dry;
A pocketful of rocks bring back,

So, Anna, don’t you cry.

Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, 1970

Many of the harlot's "cribs" were located on

Telegraph Hill, 1870.

Sometimes the mistresses of the large harlotry establishments presided at elaborate social affairs to which they invited the most important men of the town. They cannily succeeded in combining pleasure with profit by introducing new girls to their guests, by presenting old favorites in new exhibitions, and by charging outrageous prices for liquor served during the function. Occasionally, however, these gatherings were almost painfully respectable. One such is thus described in The Annals of San Francisco:

"See yonder house. Its curtains are of the purest white lace embroidered, and crimson damask. Go in. All the fixtures are of a keeping, most expensive, most voluptuous, most gorgeous. . . .It is a soirée night. The ‘lady‘ of the establishment has sent most polite invitations, got up on the finest and most beautifully embossed note paper, to all the principal gentlemen of the city, including collector of the port, mayor, aldermen, judges of the county, and members of the legislature. A splendid band of music is in attendance.

Away over the Turkey or Brussels carpet whirls the politician with some sparkling beauty, as fair as frail; and the judge joins in and enjoys the dance in company with the beautiful but lost beings, whom tomorrow, he may send to the house of correction. Everything is conducted with the utmost propriety. Not an unbecoming word is heard, not an objectionable action seen. The girls are on their good behavior, and are proud once more to move and act and appear as ladies. Did you not know, you would not suspect that you were in one of those dreadful places so vividly described by Solomon. . . .But the dance is over; now for the supper table. Every thing within the bounds of the market and the skill of the cook and confectioner, is before you. Opposite and by your side, that which nor cook nor confectioner’s skill have made what they are—cheeks where the ravages of dissipation have been skillfully hidden, and eyes with pristine brilliancy undimmed, or even heightened by the spirit of the recent champagne. And here the illusion fades. The champagne alone is paid for. The soirée has cost the mistress one thousand dollars, and at the supper and during the night she sells twelve dozen of champagne at ten dollars a bottle! . . .No loafers present, but the male ton; vice hides itself for the occasion, and staid dignity bends from its position to twine a few flowers of social pleasure around the heads and hearts of these poor outcasts of society."

Added June, 2008

About the Author: Harlots of the Barbary Coast in excerpted from Herbert Asbury's, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, published in 1933. Asbury was an American journalist and writer who is best known for his true crime books detailing crime during the 19th and early 20th century, the most famous of which was The Gangs of New York. In earlier decades, Asbury was known for his self-described "informal histories," which included descriptions of various cities, focusing on violence, crime, prostitution and lurid events.

Also See:

Leading Madams of the Old West

Painted Ladies of the Old West

The Painted Ladies of Deadwood Gulch

Women of the American West

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