West of the Creek

Thirty-five classic stories fill this book about San Antonio’s seamier side, from the days of the Old West when Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson came by, Rowdy Joe Lowe ran a saloon on Main Plaza and Butch Cassidy got away from Madame Fanny Porter’s in time to escape the fate of fellow train robber Deaf Charley, who found himself at the business end of a lawman’s six-shooter. A map of the 22-block red-light district west of San Pedro Creek shows more than 100 houses of ill repute, inhabitants listed.