Expansion of the Red Light District
A notorious district on A Street is set for expansion as a developer secures permits for a new subterranean 'house of ill-fame'.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The notorious red light district of Tacoma, on A street between Fifteenth and Fourteenth streets, will be still further enlarged. Peter Sandberg and his associates recently purchased the West Coast wagon factory, a two-story brick building next to the Globe hotel, in order to put a quietus on a lawsuit. Today the Northwestern Building Improvement company, of which Pete Sandburg is the moving spirit, was granted permission to excavate a cellar 100 feet long, 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep under the wagon factory, which is soon to be turned into a house of ill-fame. What this underground dive will be used for when completed is now only a conjecture with the wondering public, and will be so until the doors are thrown wide open.
“What this underground dive will be used for when completed is now only a conjecture with the wondering public.”
This article documents the explicit institutionalization of Tacoma's red-light district at the turn of the century. It serves as a reminder of how urban 'vice' was often managed and expanded through formal legal channels like building permits, even while being publicly condemned.
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