Busting Out on the Locust Street Strip

In the 1960s and 1970s, Philadelphia’s Locust Street was home to “bust-out joints,” bars where women, known as “B-girls,” enticed men into buying overpriced drinks—often under the pretense of more illicit encounters. These establishments became the target of a 1971 Pennsylvania State Police investigation, ostensibly to combat vice and organized crime, but the records reveal a deeper story. This article examines the bust-out joints through state surveillance records, exposing the male-dominated investigative lens that focused on financial exploitation and moral corruption while largely ignoring the agency and lived experiences of the women involved. By analyzing these records, this study highlights how state and institutional narratives silence marginalized voices, framing women as mere objects of vice rather than workers navigating systemic constraints. Ultimately, this article argues for a reexamination of the history of vice policing, one that centers those affected rather than those who sought to regulate them.