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. Survivors (and defectors) of the Civil War, trappers, hunters, and convicts on 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. In the last 100 years, though, she's become more myth than madam.

She ran a brothel. She bought up a ton of real estate. She kept a jewel-encrusted "miniature dagger" stuck in her hat for self-defense and flashiness. She was a boss. She was a bankroller. And most of the stories you've heard about her aren't true.