COMMERCIALIZED   PROSTITU¬
TION IN NEW YORK CITY

CHAPTER I

VICE resorts:^  (a)  parlor houses

The actual business of prostitution in New York City
is conducted in buildings which are designated in this
report as vice resorts. These resorts are of several
kinds. Most prominent are the so-called parlor house
or brothel, the tenement house apartment, the furnished
room house, the disorderly hotel, and the massage parlor.
The present chapter deals only with the first named.

A parlor house or brothel is a building used exclu¬
sively for the business of prostitution. It derives its
name from the fact that its inmates gather in the parlor
to receive their guests. There is, however, an exception
to the definition, inasmuch as some parlor houses in New
York City are situated on the upper floors of buildings,
the ground floors of which are used for legitimate busi¬
ness enterprises.

During the period of this investigation, extending from

1 Attention is called to the fact that the vice resorts described in
the following pages are all situated in Manhattan, this being the
only section of Greater New York considered in the present inves¬
tigation.

3