An emporium providing male pleasures existed on Stock Island in the 1940s and early 1950s. Ladies of the night. Prostitutes. A popular place. Mom’s Tea Room. A house of ill repute. A whore house.
In those days, there was a large contingency of U.S. Naval Forces stationed here. The sailors were Mom’s best customers. The Navy was not happy with the situation. Tried several times to have Mom’s closed. The Navy was finally successful in 1953.
Selling one’s body had to be difficult back in those days. Not that it is much easier today. Women were transported to a city to work generally two weeks at a time. Then moved on to another city. New ladies brought in. Prostitution was a big business controlled/operated by organized crime.
Some of the women could not take it. Suicides inevitable. Two occurred at Mom’s Tea Room. Interestingly on the same day, though different years.
Cecilia Thompson Trucks committed suicide in 1941. Rita Brown in 1952.
I did a bit of digging to see if there was anything concerning the two. I found nothing, except what is reported here.
Key Westers do crazy things. Locals and tourists alike. The quirkiness of Key West the reason.
Yesterday was the third Polar Bear Plunge. Higgs Beach. Two hundred participating.
Up north, a polar bear plunge is definitely into cold waters. In Key West, generally not. Yesterday it had to be. With the weather cold by day and night, the water temperature had to be abnormally low. Yesterday’s participants at Higgs Beach had to freeze their butts.
I enjoy Meet The Press. Watch it randomly during the year. Except during election season. Then I make sure I see every show. I watched yesterday.
Following Meet The Press, I wrote this week’s KONK Life column. Joe Btfspik of Li’l Abner Fame. Btfspik the introduction. The column really about U.S. inventor Walter Hunt. Btfspik and Hunt each had a black cloud following them.
The column publishes wednesday.
Super Bowl last night. Watched the game at a private party. Good food, drink and company.
The Bronco’s definitely the better team. Broncos won over the Panthers 24-10.
Lady Gaga and Beyoncé outstanding! They represent American music today. I do not enjoy the music they sing. Probably my age. At 80, I desire something softer. However, I must admit I take pleasure in watching them dance. My age coming into play again. Beyonce was hot last night!
We have been become acclimated to watching Super Bowl advertisements. Always a highlight. Not last night. I thought there were fewer and most of poor quality.
As a nation, we never learn. We forget history repeats itself. History that warns of a coming danger.
On this day in 1904, Japan launched a surprise naval attack against Russian Port Arthur. The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. The surprise attack a sneak one.
The same thing happened to the U.S. on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. We failed to be super cautious prior to Pearl Harbor. Knowing full well at the time that war was a probability.
Today busy. The anti-gravity treadmill this morning. A doctor visit later in the day. Dinner at La Trattoria by the Ocean. Randy Roberts in performance afterwards at the Tennessee Williams Theater.
Enjoy your day!
“The same thing happened to the U.S. on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. We failed to be super cautious prior to Pearl Harbor. Knowing full well at the time that war was a probability.”
Completely spot on. And even today we are unprepared for a nuclear North Korea aiming at us with missiles and the fact Russia can overrun the Baltic NATO states in less than 3 days. We need to pre-position thousands of more armored and mechanized forces to have a credible deterrent there. But the idiots we keep sending to Congress are mired in guns, abortions and taxes. The day is coming when we will get are arses kicked like Cam Newton yesterday. Count on it.
Yep, we knew the Japanese were coming. See saw them on their way and failed to react accordingly. It really was expected after our embargo/blockade. Sometimes we can’t see what’s right in front of us.
Now, our military has been gutted over the past 7 years.
One thing I’ve learned from history is that we don’t learn from history.
I wasn’t impressed at all about the half time show. There was something about Beyonce that didn’t seem right but didn’t think that much about it because I just don’t care for her music or politics.
Now its been brought out that she had a full police escort to, during, and from the show. All the while the black dress on everyone, the black X, and the song are being said to represent the black lives matter movement, malcolm X, and, the violent, racist, marxist black panther party. Seems to fit her agenda.