Storyville, a Legendary Story of Two Famous Sites

 

Storyville 

Legendary Story of Two famous sites, 

Krauss Department Store and

Storyville –a previous legal Red Light district 

of New Orleans

If you asked any New Orleans born resident about a place called "Storyville,"  I would bet only a small select group could tell you about this notorious red light district.  Let me make one distinction before moving on.   The famous Krauss Department store is in no way connected to Storyville.  In fact, Krauss was a famous landmark in its own right.  

Krauss was the store my mother dragged me to, to get my first bra.  It was the only store I can recall where the sale people really took care of their customers  – the old fashion way.  These ladies were in their 40's through 60's – many of which had been working at Krauss department store for over 25 years.  It was the store on Canal Street where most of the African Americans kids I knew purchased their high school photographs.   It was the store your grandmother went to for a girdle,  and if you were "big boned" your mother probably wanted you to get  sized up as well.  No self respecting high schooler would think of wearing a girdle –  wiggles & jiggles or not.  

Unfortunately, in 1997 this iconic store closed its doors forever.  It was a sad day in New Orleans history.  Krauss was one of the last independent department stores in operations for nearly a century.    Gus Mayer was another iconic store founded in 1900 and located near Krauss on Canal Street.  

What we did not know about Krauss after all of these years was that it was actually located at the site of one of the most controversial districts in New Orleans – Storyville.  Storeville was a free prostitution zone ironically named after a political leader who fought tooth and nail against  prostitution in the city, but compromised by establishing a 38 block prostitution zone on the other side of Basin which is now the Ibverville public housing project. The old Krauss building is now an upscale hotel.

The city has done a good job of quietly tucking away this park of New Orleans history through out the years.  I asked a friend today if he knew anything about Storyville and he answered by saying, yes, its in City Park.  I went on to tell him about the history of this notorious red light district, with the famous madames and even famous jazz artist like Jelly Roll Morton to his amazement.   

Some of the most fabulous buildings were located in this section.  All were torn down in an effort to erase this time in history.