San Antonio had one of the busiest red-light districts in the country, where brothels and other vice businesses thrived. Running Red-Lights is a limited series podcast from Texas Public Radio about the history of sex work in San Antonio. We uncover the women who ran the industry, but who weren't allowed to make history. On this page you'll find podcast episodes, and additional reporting with photos and maps that accompany our reporting.
Please share questions or comments with us at redlights@tpr.org
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San Antonio’s red-light district has a storied past, but sex workers are still here today — working online, in the streets and in clubs. -
Though the goal for some new laws is to minimize sex trafficking, they make it harder for consensual sex work to operate above ground safely. -
How do changing laws impact the day-to-day lives of sex workers? And where is the line drawn between work and trafficking? -
Military servicemen at Fort Sam Houston were known to be big customers of the red-light district in San Antonio during the first half of the 20th century. -
According to local lore, one of the madams of San Antonio's red-light district stumbled upon a street preacher one day and decided to dedicate her life and her work to God. -
Mary Volino was a successful madam of a San Antonio brothel in the late 19th century. One day, she decided to change her business into a rescue home. -
A brothel-owner named Emelia Garza was arrested in San Antonio for not paying licensing fees. She challenged the city, and won — forcing officials to alter their charter and rewrite the bawdy house ordinance. Soon after she was deemed insane and put in jail. Thanks to digitized records, we now know how her story ended. -
A brothel-owner named Emelia Garza was arrested in San Antonio for not paying licensing fees. She challenged the city, and won — forcing officials to alter their charter and rewrite the bawdy house ordinance. Soon after she was deemed insane and put in jail. Thanks to digitized records, we now know how her story ended. -
San Antonio had one of the busiest red-light districts in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th Century. Historians now believe that district was even bigger than they realized. -
San Antonio was once home to one of the busiest red-light districts in the country. But exactly how big was the city’s red-light district? And how did it get that way? That’s what we try to find out in Episode 1 of "Running Red-Lights."
