David Hodges, local insurance agent and book collector, has written an historical account of one of the most disgraceful, yet strangely successful businesses in South Carolina history in Sunset Lodge in Georgetown: The Story of a Madam. The Sunset Lodge was a brothel run by a strict businesswoman named Hazel Weiss and was Georgetown’s wellkept secret for 33 years. With a business considered illegal that would have been shut down in any other town under any other circumstances, somehow Hazel Weiss managed to keep the lodge open from 1936–1969.
Hodges began to research the Sunset Lodge to write a paper for a group of peers who meet to share and discuss their writing projects. He takes his family to Pawley’s Island every year and says he has always been fascinated with Georgetown and its history. He visited the South Carolinian library and found no books have been published about the Sunset Lodge.
After asking a few people from the Georgetown area, Hodges realized he had stumbled upon an oral history project. He would base his work on storytelling, often by older individuals in their 70s and 80s. He readily admits much truth can be lost through history with only storytelling.
Hodges writes, “A house of prostitution is a difficult subject. Some residents in Georgetown are sensitive to the history of a brothel in town, some men are embarrassed to have visited Sunset Lodge, and some people just believe it is wrong to even bring up the subject; they think I am glorifying prostitution. Happily, most everyone understands the Sunset Lodge is a fascinating slice of South Carolina history.”
Sunset Lodge in Georgetown: The Story of a Madam is a clean read and does not include any offensive stories. It is a collection of narratives collected by Hodges from people who were somehow connected to the Sunset Lodge. Georgetown’s Front Street, the location of many local businesses described in the book, was home to the post office, dress shop, bank, florist, pharmacy, furniture store, and other small independent businesses that inevitably, indirectly kept the “secret” brothel in business.
The dress shop stocked its front shelves with dresses worn by the employees of the Sunset Lodge; the florist stayed in business from the suitors at Sunset Lodge; and the banker knew to expect a deposit every Monday by each of Hazel Weiss’ employees without fail.
A lot of money, in the form of cash, was generated by this one business. So Hazel Weiss projected her influence onto the town of Georgetown by serving as its most reliable philanthropist.
It was often said, “Hazel is our own United Way.” She gave to the March of Dimes and individuals who had financial crises, and provided Thanksgiving meals to the homeless every year. Yet, every dollar she made was from illegal activity—prostitution.
Hodges writes, “The dark side to the interesting and fun stories of the Sunset Lodge is the immorality. Hazel Weiss was engaging in destructive human behavior. How much pain did she create in families? How many relationships were damaged or destroyed by her actions? How many men violated their marital vows by traveling to the Sunset Lodge?”
Hodges continues, “I talked to dozens of people and heard countless stories about Sunset Lodge, but I never heard of a family broken or of a child torn apart by the tension of fighting parents. Is it possible it never happened? Of course it happened. No one wants to share those stories; those stories cut too deep. They are too personal, too hurtful.”
The question that has to be asked when looking back on this dark spot in South Carolina history is how such a business could thrive in Georgetown. One explanation was the way Weiss managed her business. She did not allow her female employees to solicit on the streets of Georgetown; she carefully controlled their actions so as not to offend the population outside the lodge.
Hodges says, “Weiss worked hard to be sure she did not embarrass the town.” She maintained her public image as a philanthropist and person of affluence. Brothels were being shut down all over, yet Hazel Weiss managed to negotiate her relationship with the Georgetown community to keep her illegal business alive.
For more information email Hodges at dghodges@aol.com.
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