And Now: Hamburg - The Reeperbahn!
Oct. 30th, 2008 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jephmatThe first time I came to Berlin I just hung around Berlin, which one could probably do for several years and still find new things to do. But this time I decided that I was going to visit another city. I decided to spend a weekend in Hamburg, which is supposed to be the other really hip city in northern Germany. I got a ride to and from Hamburg through a website called mitfahrgelegenheit.de, in which people driving around Deutschland post their drive and tell you how many free places they have and how much they want for gas, usually from 10 to 15 Euros. I spent a total of 24 Euros to get there and back, which is way cheaper than the train, and I got to meet new people and babble in German.
I arrived in the evening on Friday night, and I decided I should do at least one thing on my first night. A friend told me about the Reeperbahn which, according to her description, was a street with some "colorful shops".
Here's just one of its many "colorful shops".
For about 5 or 6 streets, practically all the 'colorful shops' are either sex shops, strip clubs, or bordellos. Now, I come from one of the most sexually open cities in the US o' A, and I am not easily impressed! I have never seen such a sex-drenched street in my life. And on a Friday night it was crowded! The streets were choked with people and tourists.
FYI: 'Laufhaus', at least in the Reeperbahn context, means Bordello. Not all of the courtesans were indoors, however. Along one certain side of the street there were a lot of street walkers. You couldn't tell they were street walkers, since they were dressed just like anyone else, until they came running up to you. They ran after me, skittering down the sidewalk and putting their hands on my shoulder or grabbing my wrist, "Come inside! We can have a lot of fun! Interested?" (Said in German, of course.) I was starting to wonder why I was getting swarmed by these ladies-of-the-night. Did I look particularly horny or rich or something? (Horny and rich?) No other guys were getting hit on! Then I realized what was going on. All of the other men had brought women with them. It's unusual to see a single man walking alone along the Reeperbahn. So if you're a single man, DON'T GO TO THE REEPERBAHN ALONE! Take a woman with you to protect you!
Not everything about el Reeperbahn was about sex. This is also the place where the Beatles got started as a new young band. Here's the Beatles monument, featuring metal silhouettes of the band.
Off to the side: Stuart Sutcliffe.
A memorial plaque at the club where they played. It's still an operating club even!
More sex. Virtually every store was a sex-related business, but there was also the odd Burger King or Kentucky Friend Chicken. For shame! I had thought about going into one of the strip clubs, just to get a drink and maybe watch a show, but the odd thing about the strip clubs was that I rarely ever saw anyone go into or come out of these clubs! Considering the traumatic street walker attacks, I didn't want to go in and be the only guy getting hustled by 15 strippers!
Next Berlin Post
I arrived in the evening on Friday night, and I decided I should do at least one thing on my first night. A friend told me about the Reeperbahn which, according to her description, was a street with some "colorful shops".
Here's just one of its many "colorful shops".
For about 5 or 6 streets, practically all the 'colorful shops' are either sex shops, strip clubs, or bordellos. Now, I come from one of the most sexually open cities in the US o' A, and I am not easily impressed! I have never seen such a sex-drenched street in my life. And on a Friday night it was crowded! The streets were choked with people and tourists.
FYI: 'Laufhaus', at least in the Reeperbahn context, means Bordello. Not all of the courtesans were indoors, however. Along one certain side of the street there were a lot of street walkers. You couldn't tell they were street walkers, since they were dressed just like anyone else, until they came running up to you. They ran after me, skittering down the sidewalk and putting their hands on my shoulder or grabbing my wrist, "Come inside! We can have a lot of fun! Interested?" (Said in German, of course.) I was starting to wonder why I was getting swarmed by these ladies-of-the-night. Did I look particularly horny or rich or something? (Horny and rich?) No other guys were getting hit on! Then I realized what was going on. All of the other men had brought women with them. It's unusual to see a single man walking alone along the Reeperbahn. So if you're a single man, DON'T GO TO THE REEPERBAHN ALONE! Take a woman with you to protect you!
Not everything about el Reeperbahn was about sex. This is also the place where the Beatles got started as a new young band. Here's the Beatles monument, featuring metal silhouettes of the band.
Off to the side: Stuart Sutcliffe.
A memorial plaque at the club where they played. It's still an operating club even!
More sex. Virtually every store was a sex-related business, but there was also the odd Burger King or Kentucky Friend Chicken. For shame! I had thought about going into one of the strip clubs, just to get a drink and maybe watch a show, but the odd thing about the strip clubs was that I rarely ever saw anyone go into or come out of these clubs! Considering the traumatic street walker attacks, I didn't want to go in and be the only guy getting hustled by 15 strippers!
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 09:07 pm (UTC)There is one street in the city, very narrow, where the prostitutes present themselves in phonebox-sized rooms facing the street, full glass facade of course.
If you are interested, you knock on the glass, they let you in and you get to business in another room behind the "display case", on the inside of the building.
Just because I link to it as often as possible:
Alice Schwarzer's PorNO! (http://emma.de/dossier_por_no_5_2007.html) campaign.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 09:22 pm (UTC)So is Alice Schwarzer the German Andrea Dworkin? I could write a giant essay on the subject, such as mainstream influences on the porno industry and movements in alternative erotica, Yadda yadda yadda... (Don't get me started!)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 07:36 pm (UTC)It's debated whether it should be made illegal again. The pros are fairly obvious, the con is that it would criminalise, instead of help, women who may have no other choice in terms of income, or are forced to do it.
But the definite pro: If it is made illegal, then it will be also illegal for the punter. But yeah, difficult subject, difficult debate.
Actually I didn't know Andrea Dworkin (my special field is in the First Womens Movement, starting around 1860).
I looked her up on wikipedia, and the German article even linked to Alice Schwarzer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Schwarzer) in the first line! So I guess the answer is yes. xD
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 02:20 am (UTC)The nightlife there is beyond lively. I found some rip-roaring clubs around there as well.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-23 08:52 am (UTC)AHAHAHAHA XD Oh my, this is hysterical! Poor you! We have some "colourful" shops indeed. If it comforts you: it doesn't get more colourful anywhere in Germany, and the only comparable thing I know of would be the red-light district in Amsterdam, which is actually even more liberal with the prostitutes in their little display windows.
Along one certain side of the street there were a lot of street walkers.
Yes, and they're also out close to these streets during the day - as mentioned in my post over at
They ran after me, skittering down the sidewalk and putting their hands on my shoulder or grabbing my wrist, "Come inside! We can have a lot of fun! Interested?"
*nod* It's a little scary, isn't it? Story: when on a class trip in Berlin at the age of 16, some friends and I got lost. We're not actually from Hamburg, but a small, rather conservative town in northern Germany, so we weren't used to this kind of thing. We walk along a long, broad street, and after some time, we start noticing women - women in hot pants and insanely high vanish boots and similar clothes, who're standing along the street in regular intervals. And they stare at us in a hostile manner - we being four girls and one handsome boy. He got rather scared and asked to hold our hands while we fled as quickly as possible without running.
Take a woman with you to protect you!
Good advice. Be prepared, though: when as a man, you go with a male friend, you'll be invited to gay strip bars. When as a woman, you go with a female friend, you'll be urged to check out lesbian clubs.
This is also the place where the Beatles got started as a new young band.
The Kaiserkeller, Große Freiheit 36. Good place to dance - I'm there for the "Große Schwarze Nacht" (Great Black Night), a monthly goth/wave/electro evening for Hamburg's goth scene.
but there was also the odd Burger King or Kentucky Friend Chicken.
Of course, all the partying makes you hungry, and you need food to lower your alcohol level at least a little. And don't forget the ubiquitous Turkish Dönerläden.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-23 09:16 am (UTC)When I mention the Reeperbahn, most people compare it to Amsterdam, which I hear is way randier!
Most of the street walkers I encountered weren't obviously courtesans until they came running after me, but they were so aggresive! Definitely a turn off, at least for a wandering Yank like meself.
I was impressed that the Beatles old stomping grounds was a club. A lot of my friends were very curious about that part of my visit. I advised everyone I know to visit that street when they go to Hamburg.
I'll just tell them it has "A lot of colorful shops." ;)