Things You Didn't Know About Wurlitzer #3: For a brief period, Wurlitzer was the premier supplier of automatic harps to San Francisco brothels.

In 1911, Wurlitzer became the top supplier of automatic harps to brothels in the Barbary Coast, San Francisco's red-light district. 

But first, what is an automatic harp? Why would anyone, let alone a brothel, want one?

In the late 1890s, Wurlitzer released the Tonophone, a coin-operated player piano that it marketed to restaurants. The Tonophone was so successful that Wurlitzer followed it with other, increasingly elaborate automatic instruments.