Boys Town or Boy's Town or Boys' Town (Mexican brothels near Texas border)

Tue Aug 28 17:16:08 UTC 2007

Anyone remember a "boys town"? Not in OED?
...
HDAS has "boys town" and it's "_Navy_, the junior officers' quarters on
shipboard"? How do you speak to the editor of HDAS and invite him to Texas?
...
...

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/boys_town_or_boys_town_zona_de_tolerancia_zona_roja_zona_rosa/
...

 Entry from August 28, 2007
Boy's Town or Boys Town (Zona de Tolerancia; Zona Roja; Zona Rosa)

"Boy's Town" or "Boys Town" is a place in Mexico near the Texas border where
"boys" go to find "girls." These places of prostitution are also called
"Zona de Tolerancia" (Zone of Tolerance) and "Zona Roja" (Red Zone) and
"Zona Rosa" (Rose Zone or Pink Zone). The term was popular by at least the
1950s.

The term has nothing to do with the Boys Town (now Girls and Boys Town) in
Nebraska that was founded by Edward J. Flanagan in the 1920s for at-risk
children. However, it is possible that the prostitution sense borrowed from
this established term.

Wikipedia: Boy's
Town<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy%27s_Town%2C_prostitution>
*Boy's Towns*, also known as *Zonas de Tolerancia*, *Zonas Rojas* or *Zonas
Rosas*, are formally designated zones within several Mexican cities where
legalized prostitution exists. These normally walled compounds, most of
which are located along the U.S.-Mexico border, operate as red light
districts. Notorious Boy's Towns are located in Ciudad Acuña, Nuevo Laredo,
Piedras Negras, and Reynosa.

Wikipedia: Girls and Boys
Town<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_and_Boys_Town>
*Girls and Boys Town*, formerly *Boys Town* and *Father Flanagan's Boys'
Home*, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the care of at-risk
children, with national headquarters in the village of Boys Town, Nebraska.
The property was listed as a National Historic Landmark on February 04,
1985.

The original Boys Town was founded as a boys orphanage in 1921 by Edward J.
Flanagan, a Roman Catholic priest working in Omaha. The "City of Little Men"
pioneered development of new juvenile care methods in 20th century America,
emphasizing social preparation as a model for public boys' homes worldwide.

20 December 1957, Brownsville (TX) *Herald*, "U.S. Ambassador To Probe
Matamoros Vice Industry," pg. 1, col. 2:
Recurrent rumors in this area frequently refer to a section of Matamoros
known as "Boys Town" where Mexican officials are reported to take a somewhat
easy-going attitude toward prostitution.

9 March 1961, Corpus Christi (TX) *Times*, "Reynosa: Old, New Mingle in 'Sin
City'" by B. F. Kellum, pg. 18:
Just about everyone on both sides of the Rio Grande agrees most tourists who
get into trouble do so because they wander about a mile west of the
international bridge to "Boys Town," a sprawling community of neon signs,
cantinas, dope pushers and prostitutes.

Conservative estimates place the number of prostitutes in "Boys Town" at
800, ranging from 14 years up.

Prostitution is legal and government-regulated in Mexico. The girls even
have a sort of social security that pays them a few pesos a day when they
are unable to work.

The tourist usually gets cheated—but most expect it when they venture into
this town-within-a-town.

24 June 1977, San Antonio *Light*, "Prostitutes Protest In Nuevo Laredo,"
pg. 8A:
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (UPI) Protesting prostitutes are complaining city
officials are allowing harlots to work in the normally off-limits downtown
area, and they want the mayor to put a stop to the practice.
(...)
"Mr. Mayor. We believe everything has a place: You in your office and
prostitutes in the red light district," said one sign carried by the group
of prostitutes who were joined in the protest march by waiters and the
owners of eight nightclubs in the "Zone of Tolerance," which Americans refer
to as "Boy's Town."

Mexican law permits prostitution in supervised zones located away from the
city. The prostitutes are required to register and undergo periodic medical
examinations.

1 May 1990, *Pacific Stars and Stripes* (Tokyo, Japan), "Border town
brothels still lure Americans," pg. 7:
CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico (AP)—In a handful of cities on the Mexican border,
American men still throng to the brothels of "boys' towns," legal
prostitution zones little changed by fear of sexual disease or campaigns for
more wholesome tourism.

At least five Mexican border cities have flourishing boys' towns, and though
some have been moved away from central tourist districts, they remain
popular attractions for businessmen, hunters and teen-agers.

They're accepted with little controversy, although Texas' Republican
gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, drew heat after admitting
recently that he frequented border brothels during his college years more
than 30 years ago because they were the only place to get "serviced."

Visiting the prostitutes, Williams said, was just "part of growing up in
West Texas."
(...)
OUTSIDE along the dusty streets of boys' town—also known as La Zona de
Tolerancia or Zone of Tolerance—scattered groups of men from nearby Air
Force installations, teen-agers and other Americans wander to bars like the
Rio Club and La Camelia.

3 November 1981, Frederick (MD) *Post*, "Maverick mayor: 'Jorge is the
change,'" pg. B4, col. 1:
MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP)—A radio station owner with a grandfatherly face, a
handlebar mustache and an easy smile is turning this border city upside down
with his maverick brand of populist politics.

Since taking office Jan. 1, Mayor Jorge Cardenas Gonzalez has closed
cantinas on Sundays, donated his $12,000 salary to illuminate crime-plagued
neighborhoods and told barkeeps in the infamous "Boys' Town" redlight
district to move out or shut down.
(...)
Shootings and knifings within the "zona roja" have alarmed the surrounding
residential areas.

"We're going to run a socially moral city, that is my aim," he said.

(Trademark)
Word Mark BOYS TOWN TIMES
Goods and Services (EXPIRED) IC 016. US 038. G & S: SEMI-MONTHLY NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE HOMELESS BOY. FIRST USE: 19381024. FIRST
USE IN COMMERCE: 19381024
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 71449479
Filing Date December 15, 1941
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Registration Number 0398772
Registration Date November 24, 1942
Owner (LAST LISTED OWNER) FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME UNKNOWN BOYS TOWN,
NEBR.
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD

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