Just finished
Red Lights on the Prairies by James H. Gray, a book written in the 70s about prostitution in the prairie cities in the early settler days. Essentially, wherever young working men (majority single, but the married ones usually didn't bring their families, so they acted as single too) went to make money, the working girls would follow. The brothels would set up shop outside city limits usually, but even when within the city, the police usually turned a blind eye, sometimes even availing of their services. When within the city, the red light district was usually segregated from the rest of the city and away from the respectable population so there weren't too many complaints. The police would generally only take token action when public clamour reached a point where it was hard to ignore, usually stoked by some Protestant moral reformist running for office or otherwise making a name for themselves.
The end of the era came due to a combination of the First World War and the Great Depression. Many young men went to war and never came back and so the male to female ratio eventually caught up. In addition, prohibition led to the madams not making enough money from their brothels.
Some other tidbits:
- I've been watching The Deuce on HBO recently and there's a scene early on of a pimp waiting at the train station to coerce wide eyed newcomers to the Big Apple into the game. The same tactic was used back then too with some women arriving in the city hoping to get domestic work but ending up in the trade.
- For various reasons, prostitution didn't take off as much in Regina as it did in other cities, so Moose Jaw became the destination for young men who would take the train down for a night of sex, boozing and gambling.
- Saskatoon's first three brothels were all-white, all-black, and all-Japanese.
- Drumheller was the wildest town in the prairies with the author citing police corruption and the presence of the KKK. A large influx of miners led to wide open prostitution and gambling in the town.
- The author cites the Lethbridge brothels as being higher class establishments and puts it down to the clientele being mostly cowhands. Whereas miners and other workers just wanted a quick screw and some booze, the cowhands who were out in the wild for long periods of time just cherished female companionship and wanted some conversation and musical entertainment along with their sex.
- The main location of brothels in Calgary at the time was at
Nose Creek, with some others located on the north side of the Langevin bridge, Brewery Flats past Inglewood and south in Manchester. The first known area in the city was in Hillhurst.
Afterwards, Ninth Avenue East became known as Whisky Row for the sheer number of bars and brothels and the author mentions that it still had that reputation in the 70s. When I moved here 20 years ago, I seem to remember someone pointing that area out to me as being where hookers hung out (the area between the Fort and City Hall) I think I recall a Billingsgate fish and chip shop being there? Is that true or am I completely misremembering or conflating multiple memories?
Is streetwalking still a thing? If so, where do they congregate now? I would've assumed that things have been taken online now but have no idea.
