Island History: Honolulu harlot Jean O’Hara on Kaua‘i

In mid-1938, Jean O’Hara (1916-1973), alias Jean Norager, arrived in Honolulu from San Francisco for the purpose of making money by plying her trade in the world’s oldest profession. After a few months work in a Hotel Street brothel, she achieved her goal in the form of a sizable bankroll.

O’Hara then decided to take a vacation away from the seedy living conditions of Honolulu’s red-light district by leasing a house near Waikiki Beach with her friend Betty — in violation of a Honolulu Police Department rule that specified prostitutes were not to live outside the red-light district.

When a vice squad officer reminded her of the violation, O’Hara moved into the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Following her removal a second time, O’Hara chose to rid herself of Honolulu’s restrictions in late-1938 by sailing to Kaua‘i, where she and Betty were soon at work in a little house servicing mostly single plantation workers.

The house was one of three houses of ill repute in Olohena, Kaua‘i at that time, which were allegedly shielded from police interference by a high-ranking county official.

All of the women were from the Mainland — the madam was a woman named Jackie, and her chauffeur and bouncer was a very large individual whose name was Bruno.      

Following a short stint on Kaua‘i, O’Hara worked on Maui for a spell before returning to Honolulu in late-1939, where she was charged with assault and battery on a police office, when in fact it was she that had been beaten by that very same cop.  

She then garnered notoriety in the press by filing a lawsuit against the officer and the chief of police, which resulted in the police dropping the charge.

In 1944, O’Hara attained celebrity status in Honolulu during her trial for attempting to kill the husband of one of her coworkers, for which she was found not guilty. Afterwards she vanished from the public eye.