HAMBURG'S
REEPERBAHN
Street of Rope and Sex, an All Night Party
The
smiling girl on that St. Pauli Girl beer you’re throwing back
may not be a girl at all. The St. Pauli district of Hamburg was in
earlier times outside the limits of old protestant Hamburg and a haven
for visiting
sailors from the ships docking in the crowded harbor. The “St.
Pauli Girl” was not named for the image of the spritely beer
hall party girl of the popular beer brand label, but a nickname for
the distinct sort of prostitute
who easily plied their surprise wares of a more male variety under
transvestite disguise, common to the St. Pauli. Not that the more
common lady of
the evening was not readily at hand and remains so, in abundance.
The
Reeperbahn’s “mile of sin” in Hamburg’s St.
Pauli district, actually more about a half-mile, is arguably one of the
most famous streets in Germany for its legalized prostitution and
on-display
sex stores and girlie clubs. The name Reeperbahn - meaning actually
Rope Street - was a center for rope-making in the portside area’s
sailing days, but now an officially sanctioned and cherished adult
entertainment
zone
that is one of the northern port city’s primary tourist attractions.
A far distance from prudish, puritan America, the freedom of sex in
Hamburg
is codified into city ordinance and the center of the street’s
legal sex zone, Herbertstrasse, is located just behind the district
police station at the corner of Reeperbahn and Davidstrass.
More
an like an alleyway blocked
at both ends by a steel gateway, through which only men are allowed
to
travel by city ordinance (so last century), the legal prostitutes
of Hamburg's Reeperbahn are some of the most beautiful in Europe. Amsterdam with
its Red
Light
District
is perhaps more well known but actually more staid than raucus St.
Pauli and doesn’t
match the girls of Hamburg (see Red Light District Secrets Amsterdam). The officially
registered
girls
sit behind
glass windows of the row, on display like a department store of delight.
But the rents are expensive and any single male nearing Herbertstrasse
or approaching the gate is mobbed by the girls who don’t pay the
fees to be in the official street, operating instead from nearby small
apartments.
They will
offer
better deals than inside the official gates, but buyer beware, the
price can go up for what you thought was included. Inside the gate,
the “menu
price” for legal sexual games, while higher, is strictly regulated and the city requires
health checks on its registered sex workers every two weeks.
But the Reeperbahn and St. Pauli is far from sex only. It's a Hamburg
party. The "Beatles" first found fame on Hamburg's Reeperbahn (see Beatles Museum Halle). There
are many music and dance clubs mixed among the sex and toy shops, from
Jazz
to
Rock
at popular live performance venues with international bands and
performers to boogie
till you drop discos of young and maybe not-so-young Hamburgers
dancing the night away until the wee hours. In the area of St.
Pauli District, a short
distance
from
the Reeperbahn, you can find many local bars (Kneipen) and restaurants.
And sex performance theaters where almost anything goes can be
found a few
blocks away on the street of "big freedom" Grosse Freiheit
Strasse. The Reeperbahn sort of officially closes at 5am - mostly
for street cleaning purposes
and nothing
says Reeperbahn
like stepping over drunken young Germans passed out on the sidewalk
at 4 am from a night of clubbing.
On a weekend
in late September the Reeperbahn
Festival offers a chance to enjoy 200 international music bands
playing at the clubs, discoteques and stages in and around the Reeperbahn.
The Reeperbahn can be accessed from subway stops S-Bahn and U-Bahn
at either end and whether you have an interest in the local trade
or party all night dance clubs
it’s probably worth a curious look. But watch out for that tall
girl in the slinky dress with cable thick forearms and walnut Adam’s
apple asking “Where you from, Sailor”. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Compare best hotel and vacation deals in Hamburg on TripAdvisor
Web Info
Hamburg
Tourism
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
SEE ALSO:
HAMBURG'S
LANDMARK ST. MICHAELIS CHURCH
ENGLISCHERGARTEN - CULTURE IN THE NUDE DAY SUN
BERLIN ALL NIGHT PUB CRAWLING NIGHTLIFE
SEX IN FRANFURT - BAHNHOFSVIERTEL
