Category:Stingaree

History
Gambling and prostitution were illegal in California after 1855. However, law enforcement throughout America and especially in the West saw these vices as impossible to eradicate. Special "restricted" districts were created in many cities where the vices were tolerated so long as they were kept within the boundaries of the district and that there were no greater crimes involved. Illegal payments from the vice trade to the police were also typical components of these bargains. The Stingaree, like the more famous Barbary Coast in San Francisco, was one of these districts.

The neighborhood saw a concentration of drug peddlers, brothels and gambling halls. Many other establishments in the neighborhood participated in petty crime, like the Railroad Coffeehouse on Fifth and K that sold liquor after midnight under the title "Coffee Royal" (coffee and whisky) for 15¢. There were at least 120 openly illegal establishments in the district in 1888.

Between 1887 and around 1896 Wyatt Earp owned four saloons and gambling halls in San Diego, one on Fifth, one on Fourth Street, and two others near Sixth and E. The saloons offered 21 games including faro, blackjack, poker, keno, and other Victorian-American games of chance like pedro and monte. At the height of San Diego's real estate boom, Earp made up to $1,000 a night in profit.

The Oyster Bar on Fifth Avenue was one of the more popular saloons in the Stingaree district. One of the reasons it drew a good crowd was the brothel upstairs named the Golden Poppy. Each room was painted a different color and each prostitute wore a matching dress.

The Stingaree of The Witches' Rede is very much like the historical district; a home to the minorites and the downtrodden. In the world of the Rede, however, this also includes the area's perternatual populance, who frequent a saloon and underground village known as L'Aringa Rossa.

Below, find a list of the characters and key locations found in the Stingaree.