After doing the assigned reading for this week, we take a look into the the lives of two ambitious sisters and the crazy underworld of prostitution in the early 1900s. During this time period it seems to me many Americans and immigrants were chasing dollars. Many people were trying find new and better ways to make more money so they could live a better life. The Everleigh Sisters would among those people who were trying to make money and they did it by getting into one of the worlds oldest profession, prostitution. It was crazy to me how the Everleigh sister truly went all out to start own madam business or service. They went to different places to get ideas on marketing a advertising and everything. The Everleigh sisters had one of the most successful brothels in the city of Chicago. After reading part one, it seems to me that prostitution was more open and accepted and was part of the cultural trends and theme.
Ada and Minna Everleigh were from a small town outside of Louisville, Kentucky and came from an okay upbringing. They were southern debutantes from outside of Louisville, Kentucky with a wealthy lawyer father, a doting mother, and finishing school pedigrees.[1]
Like most women in the 1900s, the Everleigh sisters got married at a young age and were in abusive relationships. Their abusive relationships cause them to run away to Omaha, Nebraska to a madam business. The sisters knew how to run a very lucrative business and where very successful.
The cultural trends during this time in American were into were very unholy and untamed by most people standards. Many major cities during this time start to see a rinse in things like organized crime. Even in its frontier days, Chicago oozed vice rooted in liquor and gambling, with prostitutes and pimps following closely behind, tailed in turn by the hoodlums, pickpockets, burglars, con men, ropers, and dopes.[2] The demand for brothels were very high in major cities during this time. Brothels were one of the biggest part of cultural trends in America and the Everleigh sisters had the most lucrative brothel in Chicago. The cultural trends during this time allowed brothels to be more acceptable and one in society.
Later in part one of Sin in the second city, we bring to see the themes of the Everleigh club. As the Everleigh club became more lucrative, the Everleigh sisters began to competition and jealousy from other brothels in the area. The Everleigh sister had small and unique ideas to stay on top, for example the Blue bedroom and the Japanese Throne Room. The Everleigh sister were great in marketing their business and “product”. during this time the sisiter are busier and begin to renovate. The sisters were busier than ever. Six months earlier, final renovations within the “New Annex” at 2133 were completed.[3] Just like the saying, “more money, more problems”. The Everleigh sisters start to see some issues amomg their business but the sisters always managed to handle the situations.
1.Abbott, Karen. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House, 2007. Kindle app edition. Location 294
2. Location 401
3. Location 1573
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