Reeperbahn

The Reeperbahn is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (with Schanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German it is also called die sündigste Meile (the most sinful mile) and nicknamed Kiez. The Reeperbahn Festival is among the largest club festivals.Name and historyThe name Reeperbahn means ropewalk, which is a place where ropes are made (Low German Reep = rope, the standard German word is Seil; Bahn= track). Until the 1620s Hamburg's ropewalks had been located in the Neustadt (New Town) quarter of the inner city close to the Elbe, which then became a densely built up area. Therefore, the ropewalks "had to be relocated outside the city walls on the country road leading toward Altona – which later took on the street name 'Reperbahn'." The street was a ropewalk in the 17th and 18th centuries.The street and its side streetsThe 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.