Prostitution was legal in California until several years after the reconstruction of North Beach following the earthquake and fire of 1906. During the period before it was banned, police and social reformers considered prostitution to be a serious problem in some parts of the city, especially in the Barbary Coast adjacent to North Beach: “Middle-class women reformers . . . addressed their concerns about the health and social welfare of women by supporting protective legislation for women and children.” (Jensen and Lothrop 1987: 60) When a whorehouse, “The Nymphia,” was about to open at Stockton and Pacific streets in 1899, there was a big public protest. At that time, there were no whorehouses recognized north of Pacific Avenue. (San Francisco Chronicle, 12 July 1899 and 12 August 1899)