Two questions
What did the woman in the whorehouse have on/in her hand?
What were the big blocky caricatures in the warehouse for?
1. Some sort of vibrating sex toy. You can sorta read the type on it, it had a name like "orgasma..." something. Just some sort of thing strapped to her hand that vibrates, and the vibrations surely come through her hand to whatever she grabs.
2. They looked like parts of floats. This was New Orleans, remember, so those big things would have been used in parades.