Notoriously Bad Character: The True Story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers Who Built Seattle - Paperback

by Hanna Brooks Olsen (Author)

In Seattle's earliest days, the place was a mess. The streets were thick with mud and manure, the sidewalks were cobbled together from scrap wood, and the population was a mix of men - almost entirely men - from all walks of life, many who had little in common beyond a desire to scratch out a living. Survivors (and defectors) of the Civil War, trappers, hunters, and convicts on the lam crowded the waterfront. They'd come looking for work, for fresh air, and for a new start. And when they made a little money, they needed somewhere to spend it.

That's where Lou Graham found her niche, operating one of the most lavish bordellos on the West Coast. Doing so made her a local celebrity - exceptionally wealthy, highly fashionable, and politically influential, she was a known entity in the Burnt District.

She ran a brothel. She bought and sold acres of real estate, often turning a hefty profit. She kept a jewel-encrusted "miniature dagger" stuck in her hat for self-defense. She was a boss. She was a bankroller. And most of the stories you've heard about her aren't true.

In the last 100 years, thanks to the fabulist tales told on Seattle's tours of the underground, she's become more myth than madame. If you've ever heard (and certainly if you've ever repeated) the rumor about "seamstresses" or the way she personally funded Seattle's public schools, you've been part of a great re-writing of history.

The true story, though, is more wild - and more nuanced - than you'd believe. Until, that is, you read about the real Lou Graham.