In the 1930s, the building now known as Piazza del Sol, at 8439 Sunset Boulevard, was called the Hacienda Arms Apartments. Its tenants included Jeanette MacDonald, Marie Dressler, and Loretta Young. It was also the headquarters of Hollywood’s most notorious brothel, the House of Francis.

The House of Francis was run by its madam, Lee Francis, a former prostitute who came to Los Angeles by way of San Francisco and Reno.

In the book “The Fixers,” author E.J. Fleming writes about how Francis had the cops in her pocket by paying them off to keep her business flourishing.

The bribes cost her 40% of her profits. When the police conducted “raids” on her establishment, no one was arrested. They merely ate her caviar, drank her champagne, and pocketed her cash.

Her girls had apartments in the Hacienda Arms, in which the lobby resembled a five-star hotel. These young women came to Hollywood with stars in their eyes but had to settle for prostitution. Promising to satisfy any and all requests, they could earn up to $1,000 per day.

The rich and famous who patronized the House of Francis included actress Jean Harlow, according to Fleming. She had prostitutes delivered to her house. Sometimes, she stopped by to choose two or three of the male customers to take home. She paid Francis $500 each.

 

Fleming writes that MGM stars like Errol Flynn and John Gilbert were regular patrons. Production-chief Irving Thalberg used to accompany them but he didn’t partake of the house’s offerings, presumably because of his weak heart. He sat in the lobby reading the papers while his friends amused themselves in the various rooms available for consensual secrets.

 

Clark Gable was another regular who had Francis deliver girls to his dressing room on set. Spencer Tracy, a bit of a mean drunk when around, caused fights at the brothel. Once, he got arrested by the cops for hitting a parked car in the alley.

MGM had a business account at the House of Francis – bills were paid by MGM executive Howard Strickling, one of the ‘fixers’ of Fleming’s book. Stars’ expenses were paid. MGM distributors were also entertained at the brothel when in town visiting for business.

In the 1997 film L.A. Confidential, a brothel was depicted where prostitutes wore makeup and even had plastic surgery to look like movie stars. Kim Basinger played one who looked like Veronica Lake. Such a business actually existed. It was called Mae’s, managed by madam Billie Bennett, who made herself look like Mae West.

Fleming writes that Mae’s was funded by MGM when fixers Strickling and Eddie Mannix decided that a more private location was desirable. The brothel was located in a mansion above the Sunset Strip, in a Greek revival-type building with 14 lavish suites and equipped with a restaurant and bar.

MGM lent costumes of the stars to the girls who looked like Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers, and Marlene Dietrich, among others. Special requests were always accommodated. Hairdressers and makeup experts were available in the basement, along with wardrobe people.

In 1940, Francis was raided once more. This time she was arrested – along with her girls, boys, and customers. She spent a month in jail. Her business folded. In 1986, she published her memoirs, “Ladies on Call: The Most Intimate Recollections of a Hollywood Madam,” now out of print.

A vacuum in the pleasure business was always filled. Almerdell Forrester, who called herself Ann Forst but was otherwise known as The Black Widow, took Francis’ place in that niche market of the city trade. Forst was pulling in $5,000 a week with the 200 girls she employed.

She also paid protection money to the cops – $5 to the regular policemen, $10 to the sergeants, each week. On the street, the word was: the business was rumored to be mob-connected. Operation changed to out-call in the 1940s, with Forst booking assignments out of a downtown office where the girls delivered half their earnings every single day.

Forst was arrested in 1941 in connection with a ‘white slave ring’ that involved LA Mayor Frank Shaw. She served time at the Tehachapi jail.

Forst’s protégé, Brenda Allen, took her place as the next Hollywood madam after testifying against her. Allen’s advantage was her lover, LAPD Sergeant Elmer V. Jackson, who was also her business partner. She gave him $500 per girl per week.

One of her brothels was at 8436 Harold Way above the Sunset Strip. She kept moving, after each of her 19 arrests. On to Cory Avenue. Then, Harold Way. Further, to Miller Place, according to Cecilia Rasmussen writing in the LA Times. Rasmussen writes that Brenda Allen grew her business to 114 girls by 1948, “taking in $9,000 a day from customers who paid from $20 to $100 for the services of one of ‘Brenda’s girls.’

Allen took 50% off the top. One third went to pay cops, doctors, lawyers, and bail bondsmen.” Money had to be spent on advertising her ‘escort service’ in the many trades available at the news stand.

After an almost ten-year run, Allen was arrested for pandering. It all happened very fast, in 1948, after her boyfriend shot a thief at the brothel. An investigation was conducted.

The LA Times headline for her arrest read: “Names Found in Vice Raid Set Hollywood Agog.” The LAPD confiscated a box of index cards that had the names, contact information, and sexual predilections of 250 ‘notables of the film colony,’ according to playgroundtothestars.com. The fixers in Hollywood got busy. Money changed hands. And the judge in charge of the case, Joseph L. Call, made the following decision:

“In the box are names of dignitaries of the screen and radio and executives of responsible positions in many great industries. Publication of their names would be ruinous to their careers and cause them great public disgrace. I order the exhibit sealed.”

The corruption at the LAPD was exposed. Bribes taken were documented in court. The Chief of Police, Clemence Horrall, resigned – along with five other LAPD officers, as is typical in these cases. Only Brenda Allen was sent to jail.

“Bizarre Los Angeles” has a post on Facebook about the following big Hollywood madam, Barrie Benson Lazes. She conducted her business at a 1514 Schuyler Road, a residence in Beverly Hills. The house was rented from actress Ann Dvorak, who apparently was unaware of the shenanigans going on in there. The code word to get in was ‘coffee,’ after her dog. Benson Lazes was married to Sam Lazes, gangster Mickey Cohen’s bodyguard, who was also involved in the business.

The police raided the ‘palace of vice’ in April 1951 and arrested five men and six women, including Benson Lazes. A “black book,” with the names of all the famous johns, was found. Benson Lazes was sent to prison for pandering.

One of the Benson Lazes’ call girls, Madi Comfort, was a key witness in the murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia.

In the 1970s and 80s, the ‘Beverly Hills Madam,’ aka Madam Alex, flourished for almost two decades. She had many aliases – Betty Jensen, Elizabeth Adams, and Alex Fleming among them. According to Jesse Kornbluth’s writing in Vanity Fair in November 1989, she once had a printer engrave a business card for her that depicted a bird of paradise that read: “Alex’s Aviary, beautiful and exotic birds.”

“On a scale of one to ten, these were the twenties,” Kornbluth wrote. “A few were women you’d see lunching at Le Dôme: pampered arm pieces with expensive tastes and a hint of delicious but remote sexuality. Many more were fresh-faced, athletic, tanned, and freckled — quintessential California girls you’d take for sorority queens or future BMW owners.”

From 1978, Madam Alex went international with her business. Most of the overseas clients were Saudi princes who would send the girls first-class plane tickets and lavish them with presents far beyond the $2,000 a day that was their rate. Alex earned millions of tax-free dollars and acted as an informant for the police, protecting her business.

The Filipina-German madam conducted her business from bed, plagued with a heart condition, diabetes and obesity. Good times came to an end when she was caught in a sting operation by an undercover cop.

Kornbluth writes that the madam explained how things worked to the cop dressed as a wannabee girl employee. “It’s just like going out on a date, but you get paid for it,” Alex said pleasantly. She went on to explain that she took 40 percent of a girl’s earnings; that she charged men $300 for two hours, $500 for four hours, and $1,000 for a night; that she liked her girls to dress conservatively; that her girls carried condoms and only engaged in safe sex. The undercover officer wanted to start right away. Fine, Alex said — but she needed to see her breasts.” The police officer feigned shyness and managed to hide the wire she was wearing.

Alex managed to avoid jail time and only got probation, possibly by threatening to name some police officers, call them as witnesses in her trial. Later, when she tried to resume her business, she found out that one of the call girls had stolen her little black book – and the girls. Her name: Heidi Fleiss, who soon started her operation, got exposed, was sent to jail for three years.