Los Angeles in the 1900s

February 1904

by
George Garrigues

 
From the Los Angeles Daily Times, February 2, 1904

BUILDING THE FALSE SHOPS.

Carpenters Hewing Dens for Fallen Women.

Greater activity was noted in the “crib” [prostitution] district yesterday than has been evident . . . since the crusade against vice began.

Carpenters and sign painters were busy transforming the cribs owned by Chris Buckley into . . . “cigar stores” and “dressmakers’ shops” . . . .

Crowds of men and boys, with a number of the fallen women intermingled, watched the transformation interestedly. . . .

A sign painter worked rapidly and soon had saffron-hued notices on the doors announcing that “Georgie,” “Frankie,” “Louise” and “Blanche” had suddenly gone into business.

The signs announced that the majority of the inmates were in the cigar and tobacco business, but others modestly read: “Fancy work,” “Corset work,” “Feathers curled,” “Modiste,” “Corset maker,” “Linen and silk handkerchiefs for sale,” “Gents’ neckwear,” and other lines of merchandising. . . .

Capt. [Walter H.] Auble of the Police Department said the “cigar and modiste” business will not be tolerated if the women use these methods as a mere subterfuge. . . .

CARPENTERS MAKING OVER THE CRIBS

From the Los Angeles Daily Times, February 6, 1904

STORMY DAY IN CRIBTOWN.

Reopened Dens of Vice Are Raided by Police.

Shortly after noon yesterday, . . . the reopened cribs [houses of prostitution] were raided, and seventeen of the occupants were made prisoners. . . .

Officers England and Ross, two newly appointed policemen, had been at work in the crib district for two weeks in citizens’ clothes, collecting evidence. They had sworn out warrants for the arrest of fifteen women upon whom they had kept tab and were reasonably sure of being able to convict. . . .

Thirteen of the unlucky courtesans were loaded into the patrol wagon . . . and carted off to the Police Station. The remaining four were escorted to the station afoot and on [street]cars. A crowd of saloon bums and macquereaux [pimps] followed the procession, but were shut out of the station. . . .

Desk sergeant Tyler had a nerve-wracking time getting the names of the prisoners — all being French and Belgians. Tyler does not parlez-vous Francais to any great extent . . . . Before he had half-spelled out the names of Camille, Gabrielle, Lisette, Jeanne, Heloise, etc., an order came from Justice Austin to hurry the prisoners into court. . . .

It has been customary to fix the bail of dissolute women charged with vagrancy at $25 to $50, but Justice Austin . . . fairly raised the male creatures who owned the prostitutes and put up the money to get them out of their troubles out of their boots by requiring a bond of $500. . . .

J. Heaney, agent of Chris Buckley, Johnny Manning and Nick Oswald, were on hand to qualify as bondsmen. Five of the prisoners were from the Buckley cribs, the remainder principally from Ballerino’s dens. . . .

Five hundred dollars is a pretty steep sum to . . . to get a common prostitute out of jail, but when she is behind bars she cannot earn any money for the man who owns her. Business is slack in the redlight district when the cribs are empty. . . .

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From the Los Angeles Daily Times, February 6, 1904

ALL GLITTER LIKE RADIUM.

Fakers Now Trying to Float Worthless Mines.

The radium mine promoter . . . has made his appearance in Los Angeles ready to deliver handsomely engraved certificates of stock in mines guaranteed to produce the new metal which has electrified the scientific world and which is said to be worth the fabulous sum of $2,000,000 per ton.

A company has been formed in San Francisco and agents are now attempting to float stock on the local market on a so-called radium mine. So says State Mineralogist Lewis E. Aubury, who is now in Los Angeles. . . .
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Los Angeles Daily Times, February 13, 1904

OUR SONGBIRD IS COMING HOME

Ellen Beach Yaw, the world’s most phenomenal soprano, is this morning speeding across the Atlantic on an ocean greyhound, en route to her old home in Los Angeles. . . .

In the few years just past Miss Yaw has won about everything there is to win in celebrity; she has been courted and feted by nobility; she has had wonderful stories of her life written up in most of the known languages, and she has had all sorts of alleged pictures of herself printed in all sorts of publications.

But she is rather tired of it all, she is wearied with the European climate, and she wants to get back to Southern

 California and rest for a good long time. . . .

Miss Yaw’s voice is high soprano of crystalline lightness and purity and of a range so extreme in altitude that . . . it was the wonder of the European continent.

She sings easily three notes above high C, sustaining an E altissimo as if it were a mere high A. . . .

Known as Lark Ellen, she was a favorite of Sir Arthur Sullivan, but Mrs. D’Oyly Carte did not like her. She lived in West Covina the last 40 years of her life. She died in 1947. For more click here.
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