Basin street or rue bassin in french, is a street in new orleans, louisiana. A woman in striped stockings in new orleanss storyville red light. Among the most beguiling traces left of storyville are the blue books, winking, swaggering guides to. Directories to houses of prostitution in new orleanss infamous storyville redlight district are collectively called blue books. Storyville, which is bounded by rue iberville, iberville, basin, st. Mason, shows the storyville district, three to five years after its creation legally. Known collectively as the blue books, they listed the brothels and the women. Basin street, gateway to storyville, new orleans, extenstive historical content.
Storyville new orleans music map a closer walk nola. Storyvilles blue book, was the districts guide for locals and tourists alike. Visit basin street and the storyville district with the. When the city ordinance restricting prostitution to a defined geographical district was passed in 1897 the pleasure palaces then operating outside of the specified limits were forced to relocate. Directories to houses of prostitution in new orleanss infamous storyville. Early mansions, new orleans storyville, new orleans. War i, the back side of basin street was the front of the storyville red light district, with a line. The last gasp of storyville, in a single new orleans photo. Quickly nicknamed storyville, the district boasted fancy sporting palaces. The famous madam of storyville led a double life living in abita springs, ca.
All illegal but highly profitable activities were moved into a restricted district along basin street, next door to the french quarter. Marguerite griffin, a prostitute from new orleans s storyville district, in 1912 the blue book could be purchased for 25 cents and contained in alphabetical order all the prostitutes in. Storyville was the infamous redlight district behind the french quarter, along basin street, between canal street and st. Marguerite griffin, a prostitute from new orleans s storyville district, in 1912 the blue book could be purchased for 25 cents and. Before the elks took possession, the property housed one of the elegant brothels that dominated south basin street between canal street and tulane avenue prior to the establishment of storyville. The storyville district was a legendary new orleans bohemian. It parallels rampart street one block lakeside, or inland, from the boundary of the french quarter, running from canal street down 5 blocks past saint louis cemetery. Storyvillenamed for alderman sidney story, who sponsored legislation to confine prostitution to a designated part of the cityoccupied an area just north of the french quarter, the site of todays iberville public.
It contained forty pages of personal promotion from each of the madams who earned their livelihood, from 1897 through 1917, within an area as defined by the ordinance bounded by customhouse now iberville, basin, st. Nostalgia remembering new orleans history, culture and. Created by municipal ordinance in 1897, storyville was new orleans infamous. The lost sights and sounds of storyville, new orleanss red light. Crews demolish new orleans southern railway terminal at basin and canal streets in march. Basin street was the scarlet thread through new orleans, the principal artery of the redlight district, for almost a halfcentury. Basin street is instituting a new policy to provide. It currently then turns lakewards, flowing into orleans avenue. The book was finally closed on storyville in 1917, when the federal. Blue books were sold to men as they stepped off trains at basin street or were. Storyville parlor houses on conti street near basin, extending toward the lake.
The first blue book of storyville was made between 1895. Storyville new orleans portraits of prostitutes daily. Grace lloyd s is at left its entrance was around the corner at 238 franklin. Kennedy was the author of more than 6 books on the life and music of new orleans, with a few books written in negro dialect. The blue book then included special ladies of the establishments.