Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Reeperbahn means ropewalk, which is a place where ropes are made. Until the 1620s Hamburg's ropewalks had been located in the Neustadt quarter of the inner city close to the Elbe before being relocated outside the city walls.
Europe's largest brothel at the time, the six-floor Eros Center, opened on the Reeperbahn in 1967. It closed in the late 1980s amidst the AIDS scare.
In the early 1960s, The Beatles played in several clubs around the Reeperbahn including the Star-Club, Kaiserkeller, Top Ten and Indra. Their last New Year's Eve show took place at the Star-Club in December 1962.
Since the 1970s there have been signs saying that entrance to Herbertstraße is prohibited for women and juveniles because sex workers display themselves behind windows waiting for customers. Large screens blocking the view into Herbertstraße from adjacent streets have existed since 1933.
Hotel Luxor, Hamburg's oldest brothel that had operated on this street for 60 years, was closed in 2008. Until its closure in 2013, the Safari was the only live sex theatre left in Germany.