Episodes

1 - TruthTeller. On a trip to Walla Walla, Washington that was supposed to be about friends and wine, Dara is shocked to discover ancient brothels still exist on West Main Street and they share a name with her great-great-grandma, Lulu Rose. 

2 - Investigation Ignited. Somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you. In this story, Dara is that duck. After some small miracles, her fever to get to the truth of her great-great grandma, Lulu Rose, who’s always been purported to be the madam of a brothel, is IGNITED. 

3 - Location, Location, Location. Although perspectives of sex work remain contested, it’s important to understand the context: in the early 1900s, Walla Walla was a boomtown with a surplus of men and a deficit of women. And prostitution was tolerated, tacitly supported, and sometimes not even illegal. Locations become key to progressing the investigation as well. 

4 - The Walla Walla Stahls & Fuckin’ Frank Stahl. The Stahls, German immigrants, brought beer to Walla Walla and were considered stand-up citizens. In 1908, Catherine Stahl died one of the wealthiest women in the state. The Walla Walla Historical Society did not take kindly to Dara’s suggestion that Catherine’s son, Frank (‘fuckin’ Frank,’ as we like to call him) fathered a child with the city madam. 

5 - The Grind of Investigation Pt. 1. Dara and Trenton are in over their heads. After being talk-blocked by the Walla Walla Historical Society and remaining uninformed by other obvious choices, it’s time to call in the librarians and the Mormons. 

6 - The Rose Rooms. Being gifted a tour of the ancient brothels, The Rose Rooms, is not a grind. A local graduate student wrote an art history thesis on this architectural beauty. A family member asks down the road: “But are you sure they were brothels?” Dara laughs loftily - she is reignited.

7 - Is Dara Dating Her Cousin? Trenton’s Family History in Walla Walla. Sure, Dara and Trenton both have some family history in Walla Walla. Sure, Trenton’s mom is a dead ringer for Dara’s mom. But when Trenton is treated like local royalty at the Whitman College Penrose Archives, sticky questions emerge.

8 - Lulu’s Long-Suffering Second Husband: Charles Parris. Charles Parris, Lulu’s second husband and the most suffering husband of all. Known about town for his singing voice and his passion for Lulu. Or did he beat and desert her? Another messy divorce for Lulu and another non-mention in an ex-husband’s obituary. The real question: Did Lulu and Charles meet because their parents were partnered in the brothel business?

9 – The Value of Obsessions. Just because Dara’s obsessed with this story doesn’t mean she has time for the obsession. Just because Dara’s obsessed with this story doesn’t mean everyone else will be. Where does this belong in the world? And the value of obsession.

10 - Lulu’s Long-Suffering Third Husband: John Lance. Marrying when Lulu was 25 and John was 35, this marriage lasted (ostensibly) for 20 years. Although these would have been Lulu’s most active years as a madam, John was usually out of town racing horses. Did he know? Did he approve?

11 - A Divided Family. As much as sex work divided towns like Walla Walla in the early 20th century, this story continues to divide – first, the Walla Walla Historical Society, and then, all of Lulu’s other pesky ancestors who had opinions on Dara’s opinions.

12 – Lulu's Impenetrable Parents. If Lulu’s dad, Charles, had a building with his name at the top, why wasn’t he all over the archives like the Stahls? Why did Lulu’s father Charles flee New York? Why did he marry Lulu’s mom, Anna, when he was 52 and she was 38? Why did he and Lulu sometimes use the last name of Vorrath instead of Rose?

13 - Let’s Go, Librarians! There’s a lot of history out there to organize and it’s not as simple as searching on a keyword. Plus, not everything’s digitized. Dara, floored by the generosity of librarians’ email responses to her silly queries, develops a plan to visit every archival library in Washington on the grand Lulu Library Tour. This one nearly broke Trenton.

14 - Birds of a Feather: Adolph Schwarz and Jacob Betz. Dara’s first focus was names but then she realized the value of addresses. In the end, the circle of characters was the same because where there was a Rose or a Stahl, there was an Adolph Schwarz and a Jacob Betz.

15 - The Grind of Investigation Pt. 2: Capitalism, Misogyny, Racism, Oh My! There is a wealth of information available online (e.g., FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com) but it takes lots and lots of time and sometimes money. Historical newspapers are mostly about the doings of men and often explicitly racist. Even the contemporary Family Historian software assumes the two people getting married are of opposite genders.

16 - The Good and the Bad News About Lulu’s Parents. The Frontier Justice Cases are the one archive where Lulu’s parents are not invisible. This presents the unpleasant possibility that the brothel was a family business rather than Lulu’s strike for independence. But it’s Lulu’s mom, Anna, who’s all over the county property records, making deals that weren’t supposed to be available to women in the early 1900s.  

17 - Norm Spilled the Beans: Family Interview Breakthroughs. Cayuse Vineyards, who own the building housing the ancient brothels The Rose Rooms, want historical data with life to it (e.g., diaries, photos). Dara want the same! But is thwarted every time she tries to connect with Lulu’s ancestors whom she Knows have the juice … until one fine day, she breaks through.