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Lulu White
Lulu White (Lulu Hendley, ca. 1868 – August 20, 1931) was a brothel madam, procuress and entrepreneur in New Orleans, Louisiana during the Storyville period. An eccentric figure, she was noted for her enormous success as an entrepreneur, love of jewelry, her many failed business ventures, and her criminal record that extended in New Orleans as far back as 1880.
A Blue Book published in Storyville, New Orleans in 1900 described her in this way: “Nowhere in this country will you find a more popular personage than Madame White who is noted as being the handsomest octoroon in America. Her mansion possesses some of the most costly oil paintings in the southern country, her mirror parlor is also a dream. There is always something new at Lulu White’s that will interest you. Good time is her motto”.
White's exact date of birth is unknown. She was born on a farm near Selma, Alabama, but claimed to be an immigrant from the West Indies. Publicity from about 1906 claimed that she was 31 years old; however, she may have actually been somewhat older. She was of mixed race and enjoyed, for a time, an affluence rare for Creoles of color.
In 1906, she ran into financial difficulties leaving her destitute, and moved to California. She commuted back and forth between California and Louisiana several times over the course of her career and kept a high profile until the demise of Storyville.
The success of Mahogany Hall made her one of the only black self-made millionaires at the beginning of the century.
Jazz historian Al Rose sought documentation of her death, and believed that she died at the residence of former madam Willie Piazza in 1931. However, a teller at the national bank of New Orleans reported that, in 1941, White made a withdrawal. Otherwise, little information about her post-Storyville life is known.
Until forcible closure in 1917, White ran a sumptuous 'Octoroon Parlour' known as Mahogany Hall, located at 235 Basin Street.29°57′25.13″N 90°04′20.56″W / 29.9569806°N 90.0723778°W. The four-story house reportedly cost $40,000 to build (about $1 million in 2008 dollars). In 1929, the structure sold for $11,000.
According to publicity of the time, Mahogany Hall housed 40 women. The official brochure for the house also stated that it had five parlors (one of which was a 'Mirrored Parlor') and fifteen bedrooms, each with its own adjoining bathroom. Famous Storyville photographer E. J. Bellocq's surviving photographs of the house attest to its abundance of elegant furnishings, huge chandeliers and potted ferns. The building housed several expensive oil paintings, Tiffany stained glass windows and other works of art.
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Lulu White
Lulu White (Lulu Hendley, ca. 1868 – August 20, 1931) was a brothel madam, procuress and entrepreneur in New Orleans, Louisiana during the Storyville period. An eccentric figure, she was noted for her enormous success as an entrepreneur, love of jewelry, her many failed business ventures, and her criminal record that extended in New Orleans as far back as 1880.
A Blue Book published in Storyville, New Orleans in 1900 described her in this way: “Nowhere in this country will you find a more popular personage than Madame White who is noted as being the handsomest octoroon in America. Her mansion possesses some of the most costly oil paintings in the southern country, her mirror parlor is also a dream. There is always something new at Lulu White’s that will interest you. Good time is her motto”.
White's exact date of birth is unknown. She was born on a farm near Selma, Alabama, but claimed to be an immigrant from the West Indies. Publicity from about 1906 claimed that she was 31 years old; however, she may have actually been somewhat older. She was of mixed race and enjoyed, for a time, an affluence rare for Creoles of color.
In 1906, she ran into financial difficulties leaving her destitute, and moved to California. She commuted back and forth between California and Louisiana several times over the course of her career and kept a high profile until the demise of Storyville.
The success of Mahogany Hall made her one of the only black self-made millionaires at the beginning of the century.
Jazz historian Al Rose sought documentation of her death, and believed that she died at the residence of former madam Willie Piazza in 1931. However, a teller at the national bank of New Orleans reported that, in 1941, White made a withdrawal. Otherwise, little information about her post-Storyville life is known.
Until forcible closure in 1917, White ran a sumptuous 'Octoroon Parlour' known as Mahogany Hall, located at 235 Basin Street.29°57′25.13″N 90°04′20.56″W / 29.9569806°N 90.0723778°W. The four-story house reportedly cost $40,000 to build (about $1 million in 2008 dollars). In 1929, the structure sold for $11,000.
According to publicity of the time, Mahogany Hall housed 40 women. The official brochure for the house also stated that it had five parlors (one of which was a 'Mirrored Parlor') and fifteen bedrooms, each with its own adjoining bathroom. Famous Storyville photographer E. J. Bellocq's surviving photographs of the house attest to its abundance of elegant furnishings, huge chandeliers and potted ferns. The building housed several expensive oil paintings, Tiffany stained glass windows and other works of art.
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