People send me stuff all the time. Sometimes the item is sent, without comment or context. It is then up to me to figure out what to do. I recently received this photo of a menu. It appears to be the bill of fare for a whorehouse. I have my doubts.

People who don’t remember history are condemned to repeat it. I was a cop for thirty years. I worked narcotics for fifteen years. I can find my way to a titty bar sooner than a church. I once passed myself off as a mild mannered pornographer while working undercover. There are some perversions listed in the menu I have never heard of, much less contemplated.

Secondly, San Antonio was second only to New Orleans in having an established, licensed “sporting district.” Entrepreneurs printed a directory of establishments and services. The book may have sold sex, but not SEX, as depicted above.

A little known fact about the San Antonio “Sporting District.” Col. Dwight D Eisenhower was largely responsible for its demise. Just prior to WWII It fell to the future President to convince the city fathers that they had a choice. They could have the whores or they could have the military, but not both. San Antonio may be the only military town that experienced a decline in prostitution with the expansion of military bases.

So if it isn’t a menu for a 19th century whorehouse, what is it? I’m pretty sure it has its origins in the Democratic political machine. It is a cheat sheet for acceptable charges on expense reports.