Minors Found Inside Tacoma’s Notorious 'Vile Resorts'

Disclosures made in the application of the West Coast Wagon company for an injunction to close the vicious resorts run by the Sandberg-Palmer-Blake syndicate have partially opened the eyes of the public to what is taking place under the wide open administration. That such a condition should exist almost in the heart of the business center of Tacoma seemed almost beyond belief. One of the worst features of these iniquitous dives is that they are becoming more and more the resorts of young men under age and mere boys. It is not an unusual occurrence to find a number of small boys in the vicinity of the Globe hotel during the afternoon and evening, witnessing scenes that would bring a blush to the cheek of the most hardened adult. The same thing is true of the dance hall. Almost every evening a number of boys can be found standing in the open doorway, from which a plain view of the orgies inside may be had. Minors have even been permitted to dance and patronize the bar. The floors to the dance hall open on Fourteenth street and there is not the least attempt at concealment. Referring to the conditions existing in these places, a member of the West Coast Wagon company said, 'We have put up with this thing as long as we can. Matters have become so bad that it is a question of either shutting up those resorts or getting out of business ourselves.'