Reeperbahn
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. That area then became a densely built up neighborhood. Therefore, the ropewalks had to be relocated outside the city walls on the country road leading toward Altona. This new location later took on the street name 'Reperbahn'. The street functioned as a ropewalk throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
The street is lined with restaurants, night clubs, discotheques and bars. There are also strip clubs, sex shops, brothels and similar businesses. Between 1997 and 2007 the Erotic Art Museum was open on Nobistor, a street running between the Reeperbahn and Louise-Schroeder-Straße. Street prostitution is legal during certain times of the day on Davidstraße. The Herbertstraße, a short side street off the Davidstraße, has sex workers displaying themselves behind windows, waiting for customers. Since 1933, large screens block the view into Herbertstraße from the adjacent streets. Since the 1970s, there have been signs saying that entrance to the street is prohibited for women and juveniles. In 1967, Europe's largest brothel at the time, the six-floor Eros Center, was opened on the Reeperbahn. It was closed in the late 1980s amidst the AIDS scare. At a major trial during 2006 and 2007 ten members of the 'Marek Gang' were charged with pimping. Because of the problems with the high crime rate, in 2007 the Senate of Hamburg enacted a ban on weapons in the Reeperbahn area.
In the early 1960s, The Beatles played in several clubs around the Reeperbahn, including the Star-Club, Kaiserkeller, Top Ten and Indra. Stories about the band's residencies are legendary; some stories are true while others are inflated. John Lennon played a song set with a toilet seat around his neck. A fellow musician, Ted 'Kingsize' Taylor, made a crude tape recording of their last New Year's Eve show, at the Star-Club in December 1962. A cleaned-up version of the tape was later released as an album, later characterized by Harrison as 'awful'. Famously John Lennon is quoted: 'I might have been born in Liverpool , but I grew up in Hamburg.' To mark the historical importance of their time in Hamburg, a Beatles-Platz was built at the cross of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit.
The popular 1944 movie Große Freiheit Nr. 7 tells the story of a singer who works in a Reeperbahn club and falls in love with a girl. Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann played in the 1954 movie Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins. 'Reeperbahn' is a 1978 song by Udo Lindenberg to the tune of Penny Lane, lamenting the decay of the entertainment there. The Police song 'Low Life' is about the Reeperbahn. Randy Pie's 1975 song 'Kitsch' is about a curiosity shop on the Reeperbahn. The street is also mentioned in Elvis Costello song 'Human Hands', Van Morrison's song 'Heavy Connection', Paul Kelly's song 'Every Fucking City', Midnight Oil song 'Mountains of Burma', and Sloppy Seconds song 'Germany'. Tom Waits' 2002 release Alice contains a track called 'Reeperbahn'. German electro house duo Digitalism recorded the song 'Reeperbahn' on their 2011 release I Love You Dude.
The St Pauli Preservation Society decries the ongoing gentrification of the area. Several older residents blamed the decline of the Reeperbahn's sex industry on the rise of discotheques and cheap bars that attract teenage customers. In 2013, the Dancing Towers were built at the eastern end of Reeperbahn, symbolizing a couple dancing tango. The increasing number of these and other modern buildings erected at the Reeperbahn attracted criticism by some St. Pauli inhabitants. 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. The Reeperbahn was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost every establishment was forced to close.
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Common questions
What does the name Reeperbahn mean and where was it originally located?
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.
When did the Eros Center open on the Reeperbahn and when did it close?
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.
Which clubs did The Beatles play at during their residencies on the Reeperbahn in the early 1960s?
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.
Why were signs prohibiting entrance for women and juveniles placed on Herbertstraße since the 1970s?
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.
What happened to Hotel Luxor and the Safari theater regarding closures in recent years?
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.