Guidebooks to Sin: the Blue Books of Storyville, New Orleans - Episode #34
Beyond Bourbon Street, an Insider's Guide to New Orleans
Mark Bologna
4.9 • 916 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2017
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Guidebooks to Sin: the Blue Books of Storyville, New Orleans
In 1897, New Orleans leaders created Storyville, the infamous red light district of New Orleans. For the next twenty years, Storyville was the legal center of prostitution in the Crescent City.
The blue books were small guides that listed the 'finer' bordellos and even the individual prostitutes. The idea was likely cribbed from various other blue books which noted places and people of distinction.
My guest this week is Pamela Arceneaux, an author, senior librarian, and rare books curator at the Historic New Orleans Collection. Pamela has written a wonderful book, called the Guidebooks to Sin: the Blue Books of Storyville.
In this first of two episodes about the infamous New Orleans red light district, we discuss the creation of Storyville and the role of the blue books. We learn about the surprising contents and how they helped cement New Orleans' reputation as an entertainment and tourist destination. We talk about the jazz and ragtime musicians who provided the musical entertainment and often began their collaboration with others.
All this and more in this episode of Beyond Bourbon Street!
Resources
You can find Pamela's book at local booksellers, including Octavia Books, Garden District Book Shop and Maple Street Book Shop, as well as at The Historic New Orleans Collection. You can also find Guidebooks to Sin on Amazon.
Explore the Historic New Orleans Collection online and in person. They are located at 533 Royal Street, in the heart of the French Quarter.
Links and show notes for today's episode can be found at http://beyondbourbonst.com/34
Thank You
Thank you to Pamela Arceneaux for sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge about Storyville and the blue books that serve as the bibliogrpahy to the sex trade during the Storyville period.
Thanks to Eli Haddow at the Historic New Orleans Collection for arranging the interview.
A special word of thanks to Sally Asher for connecting me to Pamela. Sally was a guest on episode #22, the Cemeteries of New Orleans. This is one of our most popular shows, so be sure to check it out! Sally also wrote a wonderful book that tells the stories of the people buried in The St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans. Find it at the local booksellers mentioned above and on Amazon.
Thanks to Kate McCreary for helping with the research into Storyville and this fascinating social experiment in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century!
Finally, thanks to you for allowing me into your ears every other week. I truly enjoy sharing this city we both love!
Subscribe to Beyond Bourbon Street
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Search Beyond Bourbon Street.
If you do enjoy listening, please share Beyond Bourbon Street with someone who shares our love of New Orleans.
Contact Us
Got an idea for an episode, have some feedback or just want to say hi?
Leave us a message at 504-475-7632 or send an email to mark@beyondbourbonst.com
Thanks for listening!
Mark
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hmm. Street, an insider's guide to New Orleans. Beyond Bourbon Street is the podcast where we explore the food, |
| 0:16.3 | music, culture, places, and people that make New Orleans unique. Whether you are planning a trip, |
| 0:22.1 | living in New Orleans, or simply wanting a taste of the Crescent City from wherever you are, |
| 0:26.0 | you've come to the right place. |
| 0:29.0 | And now, your host, Mark Bologna. |
| 0:35.0 | Hey y'all, this is Mark. |
| 0:38.0 | Welcome to episode 34. |
| 0:40.0 | In the last show, actually the last two shows, we talked about City Park. |
| 0:43.6 | Number 32 was all about the history of the park, and I talked to John Hopper, who's a chief |
| 0:49.1 | operating officer over there, and then number 33 was about some of my favorite things to do in the park. |
| 0:54.0 | If you didn't get a chance to listen go back and check them out. I think you'll really |
| 0:57.0 | enjoy it whether you're from New Orleans or you're a visitor or just loving it from |
| 1:00.5 | afar. Today's topic is also going to be covered in two parts. It's a topic |
| 1:05.3 | I've been wanting to dig into, but I've been looking for the right lens. Thanks to my friend |
| 1:09.1 | Sally Asher, who was the |
| 1:15.0 | the |
| 1:24.0 | the St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans. I think I found it. |
| 1:16.0 | Storyville, as we'll learn about shortly, |
| 1:18.4 | was the infamous Red Light District in New Orleans. |
| 1:21.3 | In a sister episode to this one, we're going to dig into the history, the people in New Orleans. In a sister episode to this one we're going to dig into the history, the people |
| 1:24.8 | and the music, but today I wanted to give you a little bit of a different lens. Did you know there |
| 1:29.5 | were directories to help guide the visitor to Storyville? They would call Blue Books, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mark Bologna, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mark Bologna and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.