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The Journal of San Diego History
Spring 1974, Volume 20, Number 2
Contents of This Issue
Shady Ladies in the "Stingaree District"
WHEN THE RED LIGHTS WENT OUT IN SAN DIEGO
The Little Known Story of
San Diego's "Restricted" District
Back to the article
Cover image: The Cozy Cottage. Painting photographed by Bert Shackland, Courtesy Mrs. Walter Bellon.
Page 3. San Diego Union newspaper article Nov 11, 1912. [large image=174 kb]
Page 5. Foot of Fifth Street, 1889, looking north. "When Horton founded New San Diego in 1867, he built his wharf at the foot of Fifth. It was here that modern San Diego began, and where passengers from the north first stepped ashore. Fifth, therefore, became the main business street."
Page 5. One block north, on the southwest corner of Fifth and K, was the First and Last Chance Saloon, marking the beginning of the Stingaree District, which extended from Fifth Street west to First and from K Street north to Market.
Page 6. Bellon's map of the Stingaree. Three corrections and additions should be noted. (3) Canary Cottage was one block north, between H and I Streets. (26) Woo Chee Chong Store (not Quon Mane). (27) Ah Quin's residence was formerly the Green Light.
Page 7. Walter Bellon , whose "Memoirs" were a major basis for this article, was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, serving from 1937 to 1944. He used this photograph as his official campaign
Page 8. San Diego City Hall in 1909. Southwest corner of Fifth and G Streets.
Page 8. Cassidy's Saloon 452 Fifth Street
Page 9. Bellon wrote about this photograph: "This structure, altho in bad repair, housed a few aged Orientals to the last. Their living conditions were beyond mention, open cesspools, and outhouses were within the walls of this tenement. This tired old wreck, with its decayed foundation , was erected beyond the memory of any living, at the time of its destruction , about 1913 by the Health Department. It had been used for many purposes, well known to the life conducted in the Stingaree, at that time. If its true history was unraveled, as I have sewed together the several pieces of gossip, the coat it made would fit the lowest dive of the old west. When this old landmark fell, no tears were shed, because its memories haunted those that shared its evils, and enjoyed its profits." This tenement was located near Second and J Streets, south side, and the picture was taken from the vicinity of Third Street looking toward Second .
Page 9. The Green Light, later the residence of Ah Quin, on Third Street between I and J. Picture taken about 1950.
Page 10. The Turf, northeast corner of Fourth and J Streets, a saloon with a "parlor house" above run by Mamie Goldstein and later by Kate Clark
Page 10. "The regular inmates of the Stingaree seldom left the district, and so messengers were used to deliver clothing and other necessities from the stores which were out of bounds for the girls. Messenger boys also were kept busy supplying food and liquor to the girls in the compounds."
Page 12. Bellon examing "plumbing" removed from shacks on Second Street, c. 1915.
Page 13. Bellon believed that his reputation as a marksman with rifle, pistol and shotgun helped to protect his life during the high emotion that surrounded the Health Department's program of slum eradication. In this 1915 picture of the San Diego Rifle and Revolver Club, Bellon appears second from left kneeling. Police Chief Keno Wilson is third from left standing. Others are: kneeling, left to right, Carl Schroeder, Bellon, Harry Hubbs (?), Gus Zuckweiler and Chris Osborne; standing, left to right, Ray Arnold, Rex Drew, Wilson, George Hall and Gilbert Cunningham.
Page 15. J. Keno Wilson
Page 17. Reginald Townsend , one of the two police officers who were Bellon's "bodyguards" during the slum eradication period. Townsend, also one of San Diego's first Black police officers, and Walter Weymouth were assigned to this duty by Chief Wilson after Bellon began receiving threatening letters and phone calls. Picture taken in 1918 .
Page 17. City Jail , 732 Second Street, c. 1912 (now U.S. Navy Shore Patrol Headquarters).
Page 22. Waterfront Squatters, Foot of C Street. This type of structure graced San Diego's waterfront in clusters at many places. Some were of the old frontier style, while others had gable roofs. None remained when the campaign ended.
Page 23. Market Street from Kettner Blvd., c. 1890, showing waterfront shacks on the site of present-day San Diego Police Headquarters.
Page 24. Northwest corner of Market and Pacific, showing Seaman's Rest, A Christian Endeavor project f rom 1893-1915.
Page 25. Looking east in 1899, showing ferry landing, Seaman's Rest and group of waterfront shacks, including the "Cozy Cottage," at the foot of Market Street.
Page 25. Santa Fe Wharf from Russ Lumber Company, 1905.
Page 26. Filled in land at Foot of Broadway, c. 1910-1915.
Page 26. F Street Wharf, 1912.
Photographs courtesy Title Insurance and Trust Co., San Diego
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