CARNAL NATION

L.Z. Hansen came to New York City in 1984 with $200 and a heroin habit. She settled in the East Village, and while being a fixture on the club scene, she supported herself as a street ho, massage girl, brothel worker, and call girl. She got off drugs on 1996 and went back into the sex industry to "make a lot of money." Striving for the "American Dream," she eventually opened her own brothels. Hansen closed her brothels in 2002 when her son was born, and continues to live in the East Village with her husband and child. She believes she has found the "American Dream."