San Francisco’s Secret Sex Workers

A few months ago I bought 15 rare photos from an established Oakland ephemera dealer who sells vintage mugshots. Here’s what he knew about the photos: “These came in the large collection I purchased of San Francisco police mug shots over twenty years ago. A man in his 90s sold them to the owner of the … Continue reading San Francisco’s Secret Sex Workers

The Apartment

In the summer of 1929, Lillian Douglas was partying with friends at a private apartment in Chicago when the police showed up, looking for two guys: Earl Reed and Winfield “Windy” Seeman. The cops claimed Reed, a career criminal wanted for murder in St. Louis, had been driven to Chicago by Seeman in his Nash … Continue reading The Apartment