Prostitution in Victorian Los Angeles

How did Victorian Los Angeles respond to the Alameda cribs in Hell's Half Acre? During the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s, Hell's Half Acre was ruled by Bartolo Ballerino and his whims. Carrying a whip with him when he gathered exorbitant rent from prostitutes who were not allowed to live in Alameda cribs, Ballerino encouraged these tenants to drink and service up to thirty men a day. Thankfully, Los Angeles Christians physically stepped in and threatened johns with public exposure to put an end to Ballerino's reign. Leaving behind ten children, Ballerino spread a rumor his vast fortune was buried under the Alameda cribs but it was never found. Learn more about the bottles of Darby's Prophylactic Fluid found in a 1990s archaeological dig on the old prostitution site.

Sources:

Hadley Meares, Hell's Half Acre, CURBD, https://la.curbed.com/2017/11/17/16654292/history-prostitution-los-angeles (2017)

Hector Tobar, Evidence of Seamy Past is Dug Up in Downtown LA, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-31-mn-10475-story.html (1996)

UCLA Library

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143537731/bartholamew-ballerino

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22933696/maria-ampero-ballerino

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ballerino-5

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