The Track: Police slow to change tactics as sex trafficking persists on Bourbon

"the extras"

What could those be? Are they only available in the Bourbon Street clubs?

"...treading into the realm of illegal touching and prostitution"

I get it now. "the extras" sound ace!

We all know that it a dancer offers a "good time" in the VIP it means you'll leave with a serious case of blue balls.

On Bourbon Street, an "extra" is when some sucker pays $2000 for a half hour in the room with the fake fireplace and bearskin rug, and gets exactly the same thing he would have gotten sitting on a barstool in the main room.

sounds similar to many vegas experiences.

Never been to NOLO, but looking to check out the most infamous, Passions. Also a couple more NOLO places, one in Metaire, and one near Batton Rouge. These are all dives and shit holes, and mostly black, the kinds of places where girls climb on you and defy you to start making out with them.

I'll pick a girl I like and more often than not be walking up with her the next morning.

SJG

Hermetic Kabbalah youtube.com

My home town.

New Orleans doesn't really have the critical mass of population necessary (IMNSHO) to produce a viable and ongoing interesting vice trade. Too small a city, except for a few major events during the year. And, there are major problems with human trafficking, both moving into the city and moving through the city as a port of entry. Too much human rights concern among the enforcement community (especially Federal). Over the past two or three decades, there have been times when local authorities "looked the other way" and times when local authorities "really clamped down" on the subject of strippers and similar doing more than mere shimmy or lap-dance. I've experienced full service and BJ and HJ and generally found that the information on the usual internet review forums was adequate to aid me in avoiding any sticky situations.

I would advise any out-of-towner to NOT try to "judge" on the basis of his own experience, or to try to use his "street smarts", because the city has a different vibe from most of the rest of North America, to the point that change-overs in demeanor, neighborhood, safety levels, are often not noticed by people who might otherwise handle themselves quite well in a major hard-knocks urban area like East St. Louis or Detroit. Even on the main tourist drag, Bourbon Street, you can find yourself in a crowd of toughs who are going to snag your wallet and pop you in the jaw, and you won't know how you got into the trouble until well after it's too late. Of course, it all depends on the night of the week, the location in specific, how drunk or sober you are, whether you're with a group, what you already know about the layout, which club's bouncers are the good guys as opposed to the bad guys, what kind of illicit trade you are actually trying to engage in, all those specifics. But don't just go by the seat of your pants, don't just fly it alone, please, NOLa has very very rough edges.

Frankly, you really shouldn't come to New Orleans for the vice trade. It's not really the City That Care Forgot any more. In the 1800s, New Orleans was the nation's third or fourth largest city, and sometimes was the most important port city, certainly the most important for all of the "Dixie" area of the South, so it developed a well-earned reputation. But after World War II the city's relative size and importance simply dwindled slowly, and, particularly after the oil boom-and-bust of the mid- to late-1970s, there just weren't any major national-sized players remaining in New Orleans. It's a shadow of its former self, and its reputation as a Sin City is no longer merited.

Which is kind of too bad, I have to admit, but also quite reasonable, given the size of population, the smaller amount of business that now goes on here, the fact that it's a fly-over rather than fly-to destination except for particular events, and even then, the fact that some of the events tend to drag into town huge unruly crowds of lower-class cheapskates.

--> "When Kelly met with NOPD leadership about a victim-centered approach earlier this year, he said he encountered resistance. But since then, the department has allowed Covenant House to conduct training sessions with officers to spot human trafficking."

'Ya, think? It seems like they're looking for violations (prostitution, drugs, touching, sales tax underreporting, workmens comp issues) for everything EXCEPT trafficking.

Everyone seems to be bleeding heart for the 19 y/o who jumped out of that car and died. That's bad and it's sad, but it seems to be irrationally driving all of this misguided LEO effort. It's like keystone cops out there identifying everything except trafficking. Maybe they should use Traffic Dept instead of Vice?? Hey, people listen to those cops with the whistles and white gloves!

Is it just me, or would STACY HEAD not make a cool, accidental stripper name?

I think if anyone EVER asks about New Orleans again they need to read what Book Guy just posted.

Book Guy, thanks for that info.

SJG

NOLA does have a special appeal for me. Never been their, but I gather that it is a completely different environment. An occult theme to it as well.

Walt Disney certainly tried to recreate it.

Likely the most interesting place in the entire South.

Sorry to hear about the level of danger.

I do want to be using NOLA as a base of operations.

SJG

Jazz Funeral youtube.com

Dougster, the scene in the movie is purportedly in NOLA.

Here is a shorter clip. Looks like NOLA, I believe that it likely really is. youtube.com

SJG