The Madams of San Francisco

The history of its red light district that the city by the bay would like to forget

San Francisco in the 1840’s was a place nearly absent of women. "It is estimated that during the first half of 1849, 10,000 people landed in San Francisco; only about 200 were of the weaker sex," write Gentry. "Over the next six months some 24,00 gold seekers arrived by sea; not more than 500 females were among them." Thus with the stage set for his book, Gentry begins a description of the colorful women and their men who made their fortunes plying the oldest profession in the world. A French woman is reputed to have made $50,000 in one year, the author attests.

The first famous madam was Irene McCready, better known as the Countess. "She is said to have arrived from New Orleans in the summer of 1849, with a stable of beautiful and high cultured girls. Obtaining a two-story frame building on Washington Street, across from the Plaza, she announced the opening of her parlor house with a reception as elegant as any social function in the East." But, the story of the Countess is not only about her successful business. It is also the tale of infidelity and revenge. The Countess had a male backer, one James McCabe, a gambling hall owner who cheated on the Countess and received the brunt of her angry scorn.

The book is full of madams and their male friends and lovers. Belle Cora and her man Charles Cora is a tale of early justice seen through the eyes of those on the wrong side of the law. It is also a colorful examination of the journalist and the newspapers of this turbulent time. Others include Ah Toy, the first and most famous Chinese madam, "‘…the strangely alluring Achoy (sic), with her slender body and laughing eyes,’" Gentry writes quoting Frenchman Albert Benard. "Ah Toy was always quite independent," Gentry adds, thus endowing the woman with considerable power since Chinese women were totally dominated by Chinese as well as Caucasian men.

The French are also major players in the daily life of San Francisco as depicted in Gentry’s work. He devotes a chapter to the 1850 French national lottery in which one and a half million francs were to be given out in prizes. The prizes would be in the form of gold ingots, ranging in value from a 400,000-franc bar and numerous smaller denominations down to two thousand 1000-franc bars. The purpose of the lottery was to pave the way for Louis Napoleon to return the French Monarchy with him as the Emperor. None of the money ever reached any of the citizen taken in by this scam.

The lottery actually achieved multiple purposes. It filled the coffers of the French government with much needed hard currency, returned Napoleon to his desired position of power, and sent numerous criminals, including pimps and prostitute, to California. Part of the lottery’s purpose was to provide free passage to French poor to the rich gold fields of California to seek their fortunes. "According to immigration authority Doris Wright, some three thousand French immigrants arrived in San Francisco between February 1852 and March 1853…" write Gentry.

The book also gives the life stories of Eleanore Dumont "Madame Moustache." Gentry write that she was described as "pretty, dark-eyed, fresh-faced," by a spectator obviously taken with her. "And, she was as stylishly attired as any women cared to be when riding a dusty six-horse Concord coach of Wells Fargo," Gentry continues.

Other notable women of the era Gentry chronicles include Dolly Adams, Maud Nelson Fair, Jessie Hayman, Tessie Wall, Maude Spencer, Dolly Fine, and finally Sally Stanford, the last of the line of famous San Francisco madams. This book is an entertaining diversion but before concluding that any of the facts are gospel, you should check the original references. The bibliography is a listing of diverse sources, personal letters, newspaper accounts, and journals.

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