“It is interesting to note that St. Augustine began to document the identity of its landladies and the location of its brothels only when it enacted its first ordinances outlawing prostitution in the late 1800s. Up until that time, prostitution and brothels were simply “business as usual” in the city and deemed invisible to polite society. Even after passage of laws making the businesses illegal, law enforcement took the stance that brothels were to be raided now and then to assure the public that the city was enforcing the laws, but as was true in the cases against Blanche Altavilla, very few convictions were sustained and no brothels were actually shut down. After all, the judges, the sheriffs and the men who constituted the juries were mostly longtime customers.”
―
Ann Colby,
Wicked St. Augustine
