Feb 1982 A federally funded study in Seattle finds an emerging “new breed” of young male prostitutes who feel good about themselves and their gay identity and enjoy work as “sexual entertainers.”
September 1982 SPD proposes an ordinance barring doors on peep-show booths. Lawmakers, officials, and operators spar over it for months. It finally passes.
September 1982 Prosecutors charge the Fred Astaire Dance Studios of Seattle and Bellevue with using sex to extract tens of thousands of dollars from lonely, elderly, and widowed dance students.
February 1984 An admitted prostitute says she was gang-raped and another reports she was assaulted by seven prospective NFL recruits in the Sheraton Hotel. Prosecutors charge the Texas-based sports agent who hosted the event with promoting prostitution.
May 1984 Sea-Tac neighbors picket motels that offer special short-term rates or otherwise seem to cater to prostitution. The King County Council considers banning room rentals of less than four hours.
Mid-1980s According to local strip-club lore, the Texas couch dance, later known as the lap dance, is actually invented in Seattle.
September 30, 1985 In an effort to catch johns, Seattle bans driving around in circles and beckoning to pedestrians.
May 1986 The deputy director of the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children charges Seattle has the most rampant juvenile prostitution in the country. “It’s got to be officially sanctioned,” he argues.
Autumn 1986 Snohomish County police arrest 55 prospective escorts in a costly, controversial sting operation: advertising for workers for a bogus escort service. Aurora Avenue merchants post “Prostitution Watch Area. License Numbers Are Being Recorded” signs.
December 31, 1986 Seattle police finish the year with more than 2,000 prostitution arrests, an all-time record.
June 1987 Sea-Tac area residents and merchants complain that the anti-prostitution campaign on Aurora Avenue has driven streetwalkers into their neighborhood.
May 2007 Seattle’s tradition of innovation in vice continues, in more wholesome form. Mercedes Yaeger, the daughter of Pike Place Market artist/merchants and creator of the popular Market Ghost Tours, launches a Seattle Lust Tour, apparently the first tour anywhere guiding tourists and locals to historic sites of vice and debauchery.
February 2009 Yaeger is invited to Iceland to speak on ghost and lust touring to an international tourism conference.
Published: February 2010
Do the Seattle Underground Tour and you’ll learn all about prostitution and how it helped build Seattle.