They called it the red light district, the tenderloin, Little Paree, Hell's Half Acre, and my favorite, the crib district.

From the late 1800s until the turn of the century, prostitution in Los Angeles was more or less legal, and centered in a district that included Alameda, New High, Main, and a few other streets in the area east of Bunker Hill.  Most of the classier parlor houses that catered to wealthy and well-connected Angelenos were located on New High Street, including the one belonging to Los Angeles's first storied madam, Pearl Morton.  The brothels on Main Street were more modest, mostly rooming houses.