September 1977 The Dorian Group and other gay organizations condemn a weeklong P-I series on young male street prostitutes as “yellow journalism,” a “double standard,” and “scandalous attacks on gay people.”
November 1977 Residents around 19th and Yesler report “car tricking”—downtown businessmen driving up for lunchtime trysts—plus shootings, stabbings, and fights between pimps.
Dec 7, 1977 Seattle vice detective Cal Rowley, renowned for more than 2,600 prostitution arrests, uses an “expert lip reader” observing conversations through binoculars from 50 yards away to arrest women for prostitution. A judge later admits the lip reader’s testimony, but pronounces it insufficient by itself for conviction after the hearing-impaired lip reader fails to understand some questions on the witness stand.
May 9, 1978 King County Council members adopt a graphically detailed anti-prostitution law that, unlike its predecessor, is not limited to acts “performed by a woman.”
May 5, 1978 In an apparently unprecedented application of a 1913 public nuisance law, a King County judge shuts down Skandia massage parlors in downtown Seattle, Federal Way, and Mercer Island.
July 1978 Police report that prostitution is at its highest level in nearly a decade, and that streetwalkers have fanned out from their longtime hub at Sixth and Pike to the International District and Pike Place Market. Some officials and civic boosters worry about pimps, prostitutes, and muggers preying on tourists coming to see the Treasures of King Tut exhibit.
November 27, 1978 The Venusian Church, which stages live sex acts for peep-show patrons to communicate “the principles and philosophies of the church” at its Temple of Venus on First Avenue, sues the city and SPD for trying to shut it down.
December 1978 The Exotica Dance Studio at 718 Pike fortifies its sidewalk picture windows, in which women dance, flash bikinis under their dresses, and beckon men to come inside (and pay $25), after disappointed patrons put bricks, feet, and fists through the glass.
July 1980 The city attorney proposes new regulations for tease operations like Exotica, requiring notification that no nudity or sexual activity is offered inside.
March 1981 Phinney Ridge and Ballard residents complain that the oldest profession has invaded their quiet neighborhoods, via Barbie’s Counseling Service on Phinney Avenue and the Riviera Sun Center (with just one tanning bed) on 8th NW.
April 1981 The Venusian Church moves from a West Seattle house to a motel room near Sea-Tac.
Published: February 2010
Do the Seattle Underground Tour and you’ll learn all about prostitution and how it helped build Seattle.