Melissa Lafsky of Freakonomics interviewed Karen Abbot, author of Sin in the Second City, about the "Everleigh sisters, two madams who ran a famously high-class brothel on South Dearborn Street that earned them extraordinary wealth and international fame."
Q: Could you describe the economics of the Everleigh brothel? What was the total income? Salaries for the Everleigh madams and their prostitutes? Food/decorating budget?
A: On a busy night, the Everleigh sisters could make as much as $(removed),000. They spent $(removed),000 per year in renovations alone, including the upkeep of a $(removed),000 gold piano and several $(removed) gilded spittoons. They allotted a budget of $(removed),000 to $(removed),000 a month for imported spirits. The sisters sold bottles of champagne for $(removed) in the parlors and $(removed) in the bedrooms, but never beer or liquor. They also paid about $(removed) a month in protection fees [to law enforcement officials].
The Everleigh Club "butterflies," as they were called, pocketed from $(removed) to $(removed) each week–an unthinkable salary in other houses. "One $(removed) client is preferable to ten $(removed) ones," Minna [Everleigh] advised her courtesans. "Less wear and tear." A man had to pay $(removed) just to walk in the door, in an era when a three-course meal cost fifty cents. Dinner in the club's Pullman Palace Buffet could cost another $(removed)
When the sisters retired, they had $(removed) million in cash, the equivalent of $(removed) million today.
Reader comment:
Sarah says:
I enjoyed reading your post about Sin in the Second City. I wonder if your readers are familiar with the inflation calculator (with which I am not affiliated). It made the info even cooler when I figured out that $(removed) a month in protection was equivalent to more than $(removed),000 today…
