Read the (Not Boring) Blue Book

Anyone who has been to law school is familiar with the infamous Bluebook.

Anyone in the automotive industry is familiar with the Kelly Blue Book. And in the construction industry, there is yet another Blue Book.

In the beginning (the 15th century), a Blue Book was simply any almanac in any subject area (as long as it was covered in blue velvet and used for record-keeping).

Record-keeping = boring.

Record-keeping + New Orleans' red-light district = less boring.

Back in the day (1890s), someone thought it would be a good idea to send a lot of prostitutes down to New Orleans to help populate the area. Surprise, surprise, when they arrived in New Orleans, they were still working as prostitutes. Instead of trying to enforce laws banning prostitution, the people in charge of New Orleans decided to legalize prostitution, but only in one area of New Orleans that would later be known as: Storyville.

Now, let's say you are a visitor to New Orleans arriving between the years of 1895 and 1915. How would you know where you should spend your hard-earned money on women and booze? What helpful tourist publication could you possibly turn to for this illicit information?

The Blue Book.


You would know it was authentic if you opened the Blue Book and it said this:

"Order of the Garter: Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense"

In it, you could find a list of brothels, their addresses, price ranges, services, and information about each specific service-provider ("You can't tell your players without a program.").

The brothels were eventually made illegal during WWI (guys leaving to fight a war = more supply than demand = not economically viable). But you can still purchase a Blue Book for the low, low price of $2,868!!!!

And then, you can read it during Barbri. (You're welcome.)