Louse Alley

Continuing the tour (or starting if you’re coming from the east) of D.C.’s old red-light districts, welcome to Louse Alley! Back in the 1860s, most prostitution occurred in brothels that were managed by a madam, and one such madam was Mary Ann Hall. Hall ran one of the fanciest and most discrete brothels in the city, right in the heart of Louse Alley (near where the National Museum of the American Indian is today). Judging by her nearly $2 million estate and the $5,000 (in today’s dollars) bottles of wine found at an excavation of the site, it seems like Ms. Hall did quite well for herself.