Pasties and Vice

Many are not aware but Portland was once known around the country as center for vice and sinful behavior. Aside from the racoteering, corruption, and gambling, Portland was home to a notable sex trade. It was around the time of the early 1950s that much of Portland's vice came to a head. Portland's first women Mayor, Dorothy Lee, came into office in 1949 and aimed to crack down on Portland's seedy underground. Dorothy "No Sin" Lee, as she would come to be called, focused her efforts on the city's rampent and blatant gambling scene. She was once quoted as saying, "The forces of evil are pretty deep-seated in this city". Near the end of her first and only term Portland had become a much different city than it had throughout the 1940s, and it wasn't just the gamblers or bootleggers hit hardest, but the striptease dancing as well. This changed when Fred Peterson was elected to the mayor's office in 1953; a man known for opposition to Lee's policies and principles.  

Burlesque shows during this period featured fully clothed dancers who during their performance would strip down to G-strings and pasties. The leg shows would often be preformed in conjunction with other acts and routines like tap dancing or comedians, who would play either before or in between acts. It was around this time that two notable burlesque houses opened in Portland, the Star and the Capital. These two fiercly competative establishments would eventually make make headlines with the notable notable feuds between their star dancers. The fued came to be known as the "Battle of the G-strings" as penned by The Oregonian.

These establishments we're not without some police intervention, though many high ranking officials - including Portland's police cheif - were known to frequent them often. It was not uncommon for bars to have a system in place to warn dancers and bartenders of incoming heat. Police kept a tight watch on Burlesque houses and often cracked down on those that fell out of favor.