Today in The Unicorn Challenge we are asked
to share how this photo inspired us.
This is my response.
Local businesses had taken a great hit during the recession and now the once lively and robust shopping district was nothing more than a ghost town. The barber shop, which was there for years, struggled to stay afloat as did the bakery across the street and the café around the corner.
Among the hardest hit was the exclusive coterie located in the elegant apartments above O’Chester’s Barber Shop – The Arlington, known as one of man’s last bastions, a gentlemen’s club, a cigar lounge, a house of prostitution.
Included in the clientele were politicians, celebrities, business executives and police officials; there was never a fear for the girls who worked at The Arlington or for the proprietress, Madam Josie Arlington.
All the men who frequented O’Chester’s were also clients of Madam Josie. There was a door in the back of the barber shop which opened onto a staircase leading to the rooms upstairs. The Arlington was an expensive ‘$5.00 house’ known for its opulence and beautiful foreign girls who offered exciting and unique talents.
Madam Josie was held in the highest regard for her discretion. Her customers felt safe knowing their reputations would never be tarnished. Josie had the presence of mind to install a private rear door which provided an inconspicuous exit.
Josie was a wise businesswoman; she knew one day she might be forced to call on her clients for help. Keeping an immaculate account of each man’s name and sexual proclivities was her shelter in a storm.
NAR © 2023
250 Words
This is “Gimme Shelter” by the Stones.
The Elephant's Trunk 