#TBT: Mug Shots of San Francisco Bad Girls, 1880s-1950s

#TBT: Mug Shots of San Francisco Bad Girls, 1880s-1950s

By
V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi
Sep 14, 2017

We've learned about the over-the-top days of the Barbary Coast, and the ruffians and outlaws that made the west really wild. We know about the bootleggers, the scoundrels, the outsiders. But, as with most of history, women were also a part of this, yet have often been written out of it. Meet the misbehavin' girls of the 1880s to the 1950s, who got into some trouble, and left behind a mugshot as evidence.

1942-1943

via Flickr, Smithsonian American Art Museum

This SFPD photo album was part of the Smithsonian's A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It coincides with the time in May of 1942 when SFP Regional Supervisor Edwin Cooley decided to crack down on "women of the nightlife." Here, you see a variety of local women arrested for crimes, mostly vagrancy and soliciting prostitution (with quarantine). Under each photo is the following information: address, age, offenses, address, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and identifying marks.

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