"We have among us many scientific exponents of the massage and bath systems, probably none more prominent than F. G. Purssord, whose establishment is at 449 South Hill street. Mr. Purssord has been in this business for the past five years, but has been in Los Angeles since 1886."

British immigrant Frederick Purssord was an "outrageous queen" who made the L.A. Times for his practice of nudism. He was responsible for converting the Merced House into a lodging house, apparently for homosexual men. He was later arrested as a “degenerate,” and died in police custody in 1913. L.A. had numerous bath houses, open for ladies for a few hours in the afternoon, open for men all night—with rooms for those who had no place else to sleep.