David Rotenstein, Curator, Shrouded in Secrecy Archives

@davidrotenstein.bsky.social

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Historian. Writer. Folklorist. | History is my hustle. Also @covertnky.com. Opinions here are my own.

The Brass Ass in Newport closed ahead of the property's sale to the City of Newport. It was the last operating adult entertainment venue in a city widely known for its gambling, sex work, etc. From the 1940s into the early 1960s, Cleveland racketeers ran much of the city. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy made cleaning up Newport a personal project. After the racketeers decamped for Vegas, locals took over the vice scene and ran strip clubs, theaters, bookstores, and brothels until the 1990s. New zoning laws and law enforcement crackdowns reduced the number of businesses to two. The Brass Ass and the Brass Bull (across Monmouth Street) were the final holdouts. Both were owned by the same people since the early 1970s. Matrella sold the Brass Ass and moved back to the upper Midwest, where he died in 1989.

One of my early heirs' property project areas depicted in a historic real estate atlas with family names attached to parcels.

Gilbert's Barber Shop photo published in the Pittsburgh Courier, July 13, 1957.