Ch4 Austin Hustlers Ep6 Hattie Valdez Pt2 - An Honest Austin Businesswoman

Dear Listeners - this tape is old - please take the extra care to make it out - One-of-a-kind first-hand stories of our most famous Austin Madame!
       Emmett Shelton Sr (1905-2000) tells of his experiences as defense atty for the most famous Whore in Austin, Hattie Valdes. She ran a famous Austin Whorehouse known as Hattie's Place. Texas legislators were among her frequent customers. Hattie was well-known by most folks in Austin in the 1950s.
      Hattie wanted to buy a property in South Austin but the seller refused. Emmett worked out the deal but she had to pay more. Emmett helped Hattie with a suit against one of her lovers.
       And then Hattie went to jail for 14 days. She kept a diary of her days in jail and gave it to Emmett.
      Time Magazine (Jan. 1964) in an issue devoted to the Texas mystique - included a one-sentence description of Austin -- moonlight towers, broad and clean streets — and a well-known South Austin brothel where “the star attraction has a skunk tattooed on each buttock.”
NOTE: In the 1960s, Hattie moved her operations to Cuero where she also struggled keeping her businesses open despite numerous encounters with the law.
Hattie Valdes died in 1976.

P.S. Upon her death, Hattie left her three houses in So. Austin and the rest of her estate to her daughter, a Sister in the Order of the Holy Cross.

#Hattievaldez
#Austinhistory
#Austinprostitution
#emmettshelton

Music: "Best Little Whore House in Texas" by Dolly Parton 

For maps and other info check out our Facebook page: Our Westlake

Stories told by Emmett Shelton / compiled and submitted by Cynthia Shelton.