History of Sex Work in New Orleans

The Blue Book was a directory for the Red Light District in New Orleans, Storyville. It was part poking fun at the society set, mocking the 400 of New York by listing out the best sex workers. However, it was also a very rational marketing tool for the industry. Blue Books are exceedingly rare today because of their fragile construction and the nature of the somewhat secret document. I’m trying to compile a list of all the Blue Books in public or private collections that still exist. This also includes some pointers for authenticating Blue Books by year.

Digitally available Storyville Blue Books retrieved from the Historic New Orleans Collection:
1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913

The Missing Editions

The Blue Books include the edition and the dates of the French Balls through the 1909 edition. Billy News writes that 1909 is the 10th edition. Historians have not identified copies of books from 1899, 1902, or 1904, some of the earliest editions. It seems reasonable that these early editions would be lost to history.

The 10th is the last edition that includes details that allow us to easily discern the year it was for. No copies of a 1910 or 1911 edition have been identified and those would be some of the latest editions. Why are they missing?

One theory is that the restrictions of the Gay-Shattuck laws left them with nothing to advertise, so they didn’t print books those years.

1910 or 1911

There are some clues in the advertisements that can help us determine if a book that turns up in the future is from 1910 or 1911. For instance, one of the most consistent ads throughout all of the editions is for an attorney named P. L. Fourchy. Mr. Fourchy moved offices from 806 Gravier to 127 Carondelet in 1910. A 1911 Blue Book will have the Carondelet address while a book from 1910 or before will have the Gravier address. Similarly Zacherl Brau moved from Chippewa St to 534-536 Bienville in 1911.

1912 or 1913?

The more I compare the Blue Book that historians have labeled 1912 to the documentary evidence, the more I’m convinced it’s actually a 1913. 1912 is the earliest it can be, as determined by Pamela Arceneaux, because of the Lamothe Restaurant ad for the City Park location. Frank Lamothe moved his restaurant from Gravier to City Park in 1911. The move happened after the Mardi Gras season, so the 1911 books will have the Gravier address.

But there may not have been a reason to have a Blue Book in 1912. They did not hold the French Balls of the Two Well-Known Gentlemen that year because of the restrictions on drinking of the Gay-Shattuck laws. They held the ball in 1911, but only had soft drinks 😉…The balls and liquor are the main things advertised in the Blue Books beyond women.

If there was no Blue Book in 1912 then the earliest the edition with the Lamothe City Park ad can be is 1913. They definitely held at ball at Odd Fellows Hall in 1913. Lamothe was arrested because of it.

1914 and 1915

Historians believe that the 1914 and 1915 editions were very similar. (They also usually include 1913, but I just explained why I think the 1912 is 1913.) There are three versions of the 1914/15 edition available publicly online: the New Orleans City Archives (note: the Archives list this version as 1903, but that is not possible), the Historic New Orleans Collection, and the Internet Archive via Duke University. They all have slight variations with missing pages or different ordered pages¹. The most complete example of the three is the New Orleans City Archives copy.

Combining my own research with that of previous historians, namely Pamela Arceneaux and the New Orleans Storyville Museum, there are a few ways to determine a year of a Blue Book.

Odd Fellows Hall

Odd Fellows Hall was the location of the French Balls advertised in the Blue Books. In 1914, Odd Fellows Hall was demolished in a rat proofing campaign to rid the city of the plague, but it was after Carnival Season. The ball could have been held there in 1914, but certainly not in 1915. There are no French Ball ads in the three publicly available copies.

Alhambra Baths

All three of these publicly available copies include the Alhambra Baths advertisement. Alhambra Baths opened on December 31, 1913, so these are from the 1914 season or after.

The Arlington

Josie Arlington died on Valentine’s Day, 1914. After her death, the ads for 225 N. Basin are for The Arlington. Mardi Gras in 1914 was February 24, only ten days after Josie’s death. All three of the publicly available copies have ads for The Arlington instead of Miss Josie Arlington’s. The 1912/13 has the ad for Miss Josie Arlington. I think the 1914 edition would have Miss Josie Arlington as the Blue Books would have been printed for the season before her death. But they could have also been anticipating her death and changed the ad before she died.

Authentic Copies

Ultimately, these were mostly handmade and fragile. I don’t think we can determine authentic copies by page order or by missing pages. But it was meant as a directory, or advertisements, so we can determine the year of editions based on the businesses and addresses. All of them through the 1909 edition tell us which they are.

A 1910 Blue Book will have:

• 806 Gravier as the address for P. L. Fourchy
• Zacherl Brau on Bienville Street
• Lamothe’s Restaurant at 718-720 Gravier
• The French Ball at Odd Fellows Hall
• Miss Josie Arlington
• No Alhambra Baths

A 1911 Blue Book will have:

• 127 Carondelet as the address for P. L. Fourchy
• Zacherl Brau on Chippewa Street
• Lamothe’s Restaurant at 718-720 Gravier
• The French Ball at Odd Fellows Hall
• Miss Josie Arlington
• No Alhambra Baths

I do not think that there was a 1912 edition. I think that the Blue Book with the grey cover and blue lyre is from 1913. The Blue Book with the blue cover and red lyre is from 1915. A 1914 edition will be easiest to confirm with an ad for the last French Ball at Odd Fellows Hall before it was demolished.

Both the New Orleans Storyville Museum and the New Orleans Jazz Museum hold copies of the edition with the blue cover and red lyre as well. The Jazz Museum Blue Book has all black text within, which may be a copy from after Storyville. The New Orleans Storyville Museum also has the 1907 and the 1912/3.

If you know of any other collections that contain Blue Books from Storyville, I’d love to add them to the list. Or if you have any corrections to my assessment, I’d love to learn more!