8.11.07

F I R S TP R E V657NEXTLAST

St. Louis Alley, Chinatown
Located in the heart of Chinatown is St. Louis Alley, it was once known as “Fo Sue Hong” or “fire alley.” It was here in the 1860s that a dungeon-like basement below a Chinese temple was used by the criminal tongs to warehouse slave girls for their brothels. In the dark basement auctions were held for the 10- to 16-year old girls, who had been smuggled in with the help of corrupt San Francisco customs officials. Purchased from their families in China for $90 to $300 the "daughter of joy" were then sold here for between $850 to $3000. Due to their living conditions and disease, the life span of the girls not auctioned off and remaining in the brothels averaged five years. Although the Chinese Six Companies tried to stop the illegal trade it wasn't until Donaldina Cameron started her forced forays into Chinatown basements and backrooms in the 1880s that the exploitation began to stop.
[ MAP F-14 ]


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