Reeperbahn
The nightlife street of St. Pauli in Hamburg, with the side street Grosse Freiheit.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | subject | Hamburg’s “avenue of sin”, comically tame by daylight. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
I walked a few hundred yards inland and uphill to the Reeperbahn, that famed mile-long avenue of sin. It looked disappointingly unlusty.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Chapter 9. Bryson walks up from the docks and finds the famous street underwhelming in daylight, comparing it with Las Vegas seen “over a cup of coffee and a doughnut”. The seedier attractions are on side streets like Grosse Freiheit, where he walks as far as the Kaiserkeller at number 36, “where the Beatles used to play”, past live-sex-show photographs.
- Why it matters: It deflates Hamburg’s reputation. The comedy only works because the Reeperbahn is so famous, and because the rest of the chapter goes on to find Hamburg rich, green and enviable (see Außenalster).