Barbary Coast

English

Proper noun

Barbary Coast

1. The Mediterranean region off the coast of North Africa, once notorious as a haven for pirates
2. (by extension) A waterfront area of San Francisco at the time of the gold rush.
   • 1930, Jefferis & Nichols, Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, page 200:

     The tango, the Texas Tommy, Walking the Dog, the one step, the fox trot, the shimmy, and all their out-growths, had their origin in the palaces of lust on the Barbary Coast of San Francisco.