From Storyville to the Iberville

New Orleans, for 20 years, was home to a famous red-light district called "Storyville." The district began in 1897 when New Orleans city alderman Sidney Story proposed to define a specific red-light district for New Orleans, similar to those in other major port cities such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Prostitution was to be legalized, the brothels in this district were to be monitored, and prostitution was discouraged in neighborhoods outside the defined district. 
                                       

Storyville's  brothels, or "blue books," featured many young women whose fees ranged from fifty cents to ten dollars. The women would save their earnings in hopes of buying their own mansion along the borders of Storyville. Many musicians like Jelly roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong could be heard playing their instruments in the alleyways of the district. Records of the neighborhood have been lost through time, but many pictures and stories survive. Photographer E.J Bellocq was able to photograph a few of the girls. The photos were found in a personal diary after his death. 
                                        
The brothels were all demolished by the 1930's to make way for the Iberville Housing Project to provide affordable housing during the depression. Most of the Iberville's residents don't know that they live on the site of a former red-light district.  
                                                                                  

The brothels and saloons of Storyville may be gone, but the music played in them lives on in the nightclubs of the French Quarter. Channing Tatum opened a restaurant that was inspired by New Orleans' Storyville era. Saints and Sinners sits in the middle of Bourbon Street and hosts many variety acts from go-go dancing men, to fire juggling women.