Prostitution was rampant in San Francisco’s early days as prospective gold miners flooded into the City looking for female companionship. Irene McCready was San Francisco’s first madame who, with her lover James McCabe, opened the El Dorado Saloon on Portsmouth Square. Minna Street was named after Minna Rae Simpson, a child prostitute who got pregnant at age 10 but would, after managing a successful brothel, move to England and meet author James Barrie, who modeled his character Wendy in Peter Pan after her. Belle Cora^[1]mingled with the City’s elite until her lover was hanged for murder. Ah Toy had a lucrative brothel on Waverly Place^[2]in ChinaTown before leaving the business, marrying, and settling in San Jose. 

Not everyone in the City could afford the more upscale brothels, and most men eventually found their way to Morton Street (today’s Maiden Lane), a two block alley off of Union Square^[3]. Street prostitutes were called “crib girls”, so named because they worked out of small wooden stalls set up along alley walls. There were also small wooden buildings along Morton where prostitutes would sit in the windows looking for customers. 

Muggings and violence were common on Morton Street. In 1872 a petition was signed by 60 residents and property owners in the neighborhood, demanding a stop to the prostitution. Police Chief Patrick Crowley was pressured into blockading the entrances to Morton Street establishments in 1872 and again in 1883, but to no avail. As soon as the police left, the prostitutes, and their clients, returned. The street was finally cleared out in 1896. In 1898 the street name changed to Union Square Street in an attempt to change its image. The name changed again in 1904 to Manila Street before being completely destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fires^[4]. The name returned to Union Square Street in 1921, only to be renamed Maiden Lane a year later. Prostitution moved out of Union Square and into the Tenderloin.

Maiden Lane was made famous when, in 1948, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the space at 155 Maiden Lane. It is a fairly unassuming brick rectangular building with an arched entrance, but Wright’s design of the interior was a pre-cursor to the Guggenheim Museum. A curving ramp hugs the far wall, with a skylit ceiling consisting of 120 acrylic domes. There are brass hanging planters and mahogany display cabinets. Several retailers occupied the space over the years, though it is currently unoccupied. The building gained landmark status in 2016.

High end boutiques and restaurants began renting space in Maiden Lane in the 1950s. There was Gumps^[5], the Old Poodle Dog^[6], Sheridan & Bell Flowers and, my personal favorite, Robinson’s House of Pets. In 1955 Maiden Lane was converted into a pedestrian alley. It was the place to visit when shopping in Union Square. While the street is not as popular or as busy as it once was in its yesteryear, one can still find upscale stores, with Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece at its center.

^[1] Belle Cora: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3008

^[2] Ah Toy and Waverly Place: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3008

^[3] Union Square: story coming July 25th

^[4] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849

^[5] Gumps: story coming December 15th

^[6] The Poodle Dog: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4058