Some background on 'the plague spot of Honolulu' - Iwelei

I've watched this movie several times, and recently watched it with my sister. We were both intrigued by the part where Davidson (Walter Huston) first encounters Sadie Thompson. It dawns on him who she is, and he exclaims, "Of course! She's out of Iwelei." Neither my sister nor I could make out what he was saying, we thought it sounded like "evil A" or something like that, but we didn't know what the heck that was.

Well, I did some research, and Iwelei was actually a notorious Red Light district outside of Honolulu, Hawaii. Maybe the term was more well-known to moviegoers at the time, but it went right over our heads.

Perhaps the best description of this "plague spot of Honolulu" comes from the source novel for this film, "Rain" (1921) by W. Somerset Maugham. Here's an excerpt from the novel, where Iwelei is first mentioned:

Davidson sprang to his feet with a cry.
“What`s the matter, Alfred?” asked Mrs. Davidson.
“Of course! It never occurred to me. She`s out of Iwelei.”
“She can`t be.”
“She came on board at Honolulu. It`s obvious. And she`s carrying on her trade here. Here.”
He uttered the last word with a passion of indignation.
“What`s Iwelei?” asked Mrs. Macphail.
He turned his gloomy eyes on her and his voice trembled with horror.
“The plague spot of Honolulu. The Red Light district. It was a blot on our civilisation.”

Iwelei was on the edge of the city. You went down side streets by the harbour, in the darkness, across a rickety bridge, till you came to a deserted road, all ruts and holes, and then suddenly you came out into the light. There was parking room for motors on each side of the road, and there were saloons, tawdry and bright, each one noisy with its mechanical piano, and there were barbers` shops and tobacconists. There was a stir in the air and a sense of expectant gaiety. You turned down a narrow alley, either to the right or to the left, for the road divided Iwelei into two parts, and you found yourself in the district. There were rows of little bungalows, trim and neatly painted in green, and the pathway between them was broad and straight. It was laid out like a garden-city. In its respectable regularity, its order and spruceness, it gave an impression of sardonic horror; for never can the search for love have been so systematised and ordered. The pathways were lit by a rare lamp, but they would have been dark except for the lights that came from the open windows of the bungalows. Men wandered about, looking at the women who sat at their windows, reading or sewing, for the most part taking no notice of the passers-by; and like the women they were of all nationalities. There were Americans, sailors from the ships in port, enlisted men off the gunboats, sombrely drunk, and soldiers from the regiments, white and black, quartered on the island; there were Japanese, walking in twos and threes; Hawaiians, Chinese in long robes, and Filipinos in preposterous hats. They were silent and as it were oppressed. Desire is sad.

“It was the most crying scandal of the Pacific,” exclaimed Davidson vehemently. “The missionaries had been agitating against it for years, and at last the local press took it up. The police refused to stir. You know their argument. They say that vice is inevitable and consequently the best thing is to localise and control it. The truth is, they were paid. Paid. They were paid by the saloon-keepers, paid by the bullies, paid by the women themselves. At last they were forced to move.”

“I read about it in the papers that came on board in Honolulu,” said Dr. Macphail.
“Iwelei, with its sin and shame, ceased to exist on the very day we arrived. The whole population was brought before the justices. I don`t know why I didn`t understand at once what that woman was.”
“Now you come to speak of it,” said Mrs. Macphail, “I remember seeing her come on board only a few minutes before the boat sailed. I remember thinking at the time she was cutting it rather fine”
“How dare she come here!” cried Davidson indignantly. “I`m not going to allow it.”
He strode towards the door.
“What are you going to do?” asked Macphail.
“What do you expect me to do? I`m going to stop it. I`m not going to have this house turned into—into. . .”
He sought for a word that should not offend the ladies` ears. His eyes were flashing and his pale face was paler still in his emotion....