Prostitution in Honolulu has been sanctioned both legally and illegally by the Honolulu Police Department for centuries.  In 1860, the “Act to Mitigate the Evils and diseases arising from Prostitution” was enacted by the Hawaii government, which provided for the registration of prostitutes around Honolulu.

By 1932 the territorial government brought in William A. Gabrielson from California to be the Chief of Police and he would run the prostitution business with his Vice Squad.  Gabrielson had full cooperation from the military and local population as everyone believed it was a “necessary evil” to protect tourists or “virtuous visitors” in Waikiki and “proper girls” of prominent local families from some 20,000 unmarried military troops and 70,000 Filipino men working on plantations looking for love.

To keep everything controlled there was no streetwalking of “ladies of the evening”, all transactions were done in brothels or “factories”, which were located in the Iwilei area where Home Depot and Lowe’s now stand.  In 1917 they were all moved to the new “Red Light District”, which was a half of square mile from Hotel, River, Berentania, and Kukui Streets.  The women were run by Madams or “landladies” so as better to control the income and get the kickbacks to the Vice Squad for “it’s protection”.

When new sex workers were needed, the Madams would send mail orders to San Francisco or Los Angeles for “the desired goods”…the rates paid were from $500 to $1,000 ($9,000 to $18,000 in today’s dollars) to a “broker”; translation, pimp, depending on the age and “freshness” of the girl …younger girls were the most desirable and many were between 15 to 17 years of age…the girls received none of these “fees”…

When the steamship arrived into Honolulu Harbor, the ladies were met by a detective of the Vice Squad and taken downtown to the “receiving station” at the Blaisdell Hotel where they were photographed, fingerprinted, and told of the rules and regulations for them. Violations of these doctrines they were told would be met with swift punishment of beatings, fines, imprisonment, and finally banishment.

In addition, all of the girls were taken to the police station on Bethel Street and given a Territorial tax book and a General Excise Tax license as they were now licensed as “entertainers.”  This license cost them each $1 per year.  Further, every girl was informed that at the end of each month the Vice Squad would come by to collect an unofficial tax of $30 from them. Most of the Squad and some patrolmen would also come in for their weekly “tip” of oral or regular sex in exchange for not hassling the girls when they walked around Honolulu…

The girls paid Federal income taxes, as well as state taxes. “It has been said that (the) girls and Madams are the heaviest tax payers in Honolulu...Each girl in Honolulu can average from $4,000 per month to $5,000 per month ($70,000 to $90,000 in 2019) with each girl servicing 50 to 60 “clients” per day...Taxes are collected by the Madam of the house, who also files the returns for them.” (O’Hara)  This money was achieved because the ladies or “inmates”, a termed used by the police worked six days a week, usually from 1 pm to 5 am for six months straight before they were given time off for a vacation.

There were 18 brothels operating with an average of 11 women in each house in Honolulu and at these rates they were bringing in approximately $1,000,000 per month ($18,500,000 per month or over $220 million per year in today’s dollars).  The estimated police’s share, which greased many local politicians’ palms was $4.5 million a year (over $81million in 2019), without any reports being required.  Everyone was getting fat and happy and the girls behaved under Gabrielson’s iron fisted rule until World War II broke out and a pucky Irish woman stood up for her constitutional rights.  

This rebellious Irish girl was Betty Jean O’Hara (pictured above) who was known as “The Honolulu Harlot”.  Ms. O’Hara was a professional prostitute and as author William Bradford Huie described her, "that, physically, she had been almost perfectly assembled for the satisfaction of vigorous lust.”  

After the war broke out, the U.S. Army unofficially took over the prostitution business because with over 50,000+ soldiers now on island on any given day they wanted their soldiers to be relaxed and have “good healthy recreation”…As Winston Churchill said of the British Royal Air Force, "Never…have so many owed so much to so few”...Under miltiary control, each girl was now servicing over 100 men per day...$3.00 for 3 minutes or $5.00 for 5 minutes and the girls could keep 2/3 of the money and not have to pay extortion money…

O’Hara a favorite of the officers, shined and created what is now known as the “Bull Pen” to service the  "boys" on island.  She had the military set up a warehouse and each girl had her pen; three stalls, the first, the service man would walk into and disrobe, a nurse would check him for venereal disease and he would get a condom, he would then go into stall 2 and have sex, the third stall was for washing, getting dressed, and then getting a shot of penicillin from another nurse as he walked out the door.  

With the pens now working, O’Hara often dressing her 39”-24”-36” body and standing 5’ 10” tall in 6 inch ruby red stiletto heels, ruby lipstick, flaming long blonde hair draping her shoulders, and in a smoking hot red statin robe would walk in and most of the soldiers whose average age was 21 were done before she even touched them...she would see up to 200 men a day…the money was good…She made over $600,000 ($9 million today) in her 3 years with the military and purchased a lot of real estate in both Honolulu and San Francisco…she drove a Lincoln convertible and partied at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, which had been forbidden under Gabrielson…Life with freedom was good...

But in late 1944 with the war ending everything changed for her and the girls as the Army gave the business back to Gabrielson and his Vice Squad.  The police and many locals hungry for the extortion money they had lost in the war were very anxious for control to return to them…everyone except O’Hara…she defied the police’s rules and conditions and stated she was a taxpayer with rights…In response, the Chief had his men go to her brothel, beat her black and blue in front of the other girls to establish fear…they broke two of her ribs and dragged her off to jail for four days...

However, instead of succumbing to intimidation and the Squad’s brutality, O’Hara fought back and filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the Police department and Gabrielson…The lawsuit was dropped after the Chief apologized…But now with hatred over a “Tramp” forcing him to publicly apologize and defy his power, he had her arrested a few months later on trumped up charges of attempted murder…for weeks all the sordid details of life as a prostitute in Honolulu was exposed to the “good people” of Honolulu in the press…in the end it only took the jury five minutes to find her not guilty.  Chief Gabrielson was humiliated and forced to resign within a year.  

O’Hara now very wealthy, quit the business and retired to San Francisco where she wrote a booklet exposing the graft and corruption of prostitution in Hawaii in 1944 titled, “ My Life As A Honolulu Prostitute”.  William Bradford Huie, one of the most successful American journalists and authors of the 20th century who had written twenty-one books that sold over 30 million copies worldwide. knew her personally and wrote the novel, “The Revolt of Mamie Stover” in 1951 based very tightly on her life.  The book sold over one million copies and was subsequently made into a hit movie in 1956 starting Jane Russell.  

The Territorial government fearing this publicity would ruin their chances for future Statehood voted to make prostitution illegal in 1946 and all brothels were closed…However, as we all know, prostitution and sex trafficking being “the oldest profession in the world”, continues to thrive and profit in Hawaii with the high demand for entertainers for tourists…And as for Betty Jean O’Hara…she died in 1973 at the age of 60…Her legacy lives on; a hated whore by the cops of Honolulu, a hero for sex workers of her day, and the best sexual fantasy of many a serviceman who fought the war to end all wars...