Barbary Coast

Barbary Coast was a red-light district in old San Francisco, California. Geographically it constituted nine blocks bounded by Montgomery Street, Washington Street, Stockton Street, and Broadway. Particularly notorious was Pacific Avenue, one of the earliest streets to be cut through the hills, which led directly from the wharf to the center of town, near Portsmouth Square.The neighborhood quickly took on its seedy character during the California Gold Rush (1848–1858). It was known for gambling, prostitution and crime. It is now overlapped by Chinatown, North Beach, Jackson Square, and the Financial District. The Barbary Coast was initially known as Sydney-Town, populated by criminal elements from the British penal colonies of Australia,...