St. Pauli & Kiez in Hamburg - St. Joseph Hotel St. Pauli

Right in the heart of St. Pauli and Kiez, the world-famous district of Hamburg.

The St. Joseph Hotel St. Pauli in Hamburg city center boasts a truly outstanding location and is the only hotel on the incredibly popular entertainment boulevard "Große Freiheit." You'll be staying right in the heart of St. Pauli, Hamburg's world-famous district that captivates people from all over the globe. Our team is happy to assist you with planning your leisure activities, as our hotel is an ideal base for exploring the many attractions of Hamburg's vibrant St. Pauli district.

St. Pauli & Kiez, where St. Joseph Hotel St. Pauli is located.

* The following information is merely an excerpt from Wikipedia (as of February 6, 2020). We assume no responsibility for the accuracy and timeliness of this information.


St. Pauli is a district in the Hamburg-Mitte borough of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The name is well-known far beyond the borders of Hamburg due to the Kiez entertainment district located in St. Pauli, along the Reeperbahn.


The district: In 1894, the suburb became a district of Hamburg. Until the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, the area was divided. Only the eastern part belonged to Hamburg; the western part – including the street Große Freiheit – belonged to the city of Altona. Today, St. Pauli is administratively part of the Hamburg-Mitte district.


At the beginning of the 20th century, a small Chinatown existed around Schmuckstraße. During the so-called "Chinese Action" of the Hamburg Gestapo, approximately 120 to 130 Chinese men were arrested on May 13, 1944, and imprisoned and mistreated in the Fuhlsbüttel Gestapo prison. A group of these Chinese men were then sent, without trial or sentence, to the Langer Morgen labor education camp in the port area. At least 17 of them died during forced labor in the port, while clearing rubble, and as a result of mistreatment by the guards.


After the Second World War, parts of the Gründerzeit buildings in St. Pauli were destroyed by bombs.


In the 1950s and 1960s, the entertainment district regained its former popularity. The appearance of English music groups (The Beatles) played a particularly important role in this. The 1970s saw a significant decline in St. Pauli. With the premiere of the musical Cats at the Operettenhaus (1986) and the opening of the Schmidt Theater (1988), a slow resurgence began, which continues to this day.


Kiez

Although St. Pauli is a significant residential area in Hamburg, the district is primarily known for its entertainment and red-light district, the area in the south of the district also called the Kiez. This area, however, only encompasses a legally designated section where there is no curfew for restaurants and bars. This includes the Reeperbahn, Spielbudenplatz, and other parallel and side streets such as Herbertstraße and Große Freiheit. Since the curfew does not apply on weekends and its start time has been moved to 5 a.m. throughout Hamburg, it is now largely irrelevant. In fact, St. Pauli is mostly comprised of lower-middle-class residential streets and working-class neighborhoods. The district is also very popular with students and artists due to its central location and its exceptionally diverse and tolerant atmosphere. Thus, several social classes still live almost in parallel in St. Pauli, only occasionally intersecting. However, displacement due to rapidly rising rents has been observed here for years.


Theater

At Spielbudenplatz:


  • St. Pauli Theater
  • Schmidt Theater and Schmidts Tivoli
  • Operettenhaus.


On the Reeperbahn:


  • Imperial Theater
  • Pulverfass Cabaret



Museen

  • Beatlemania Hamburg at Nobistor near Beatles-Platz (experience world exhibition about the Beatles, whose career began on Große Freiheit and Reeperbahn; from 2009 to 2012, closed since then)
  • Harry's Hamburg Harbor Bazaar, formerly located at the corner of Erichstrasse and Balduinstrasse, has been located in HafenCity since 2013.
  • Panoptikum at Spielbudenplatz (wax museum)
  • St. Pauli Museum in Davidstrasse (history of the district and its people)
  • Hamburg School Museum in Seilerstraße (Hamburg school history)
  • Erotic Art Museum Hamburg, located on Bernhard-Nocht-Straße, founded in 1992



Art and Music

As an entertainment district, St. Pauli is home to a multitude of music clubs, pubs, and discos of varying styles and quality, attracting Hamburg residents and tourists every weekend. According to the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit," St. Pauli and the immediate surroundings around the Karolinenviertel have the highest density of record stores specializing in vinyl in Germany.


Even the Swing Youth practiced cultural resistance against National Socialism here.



Many (music) trends came to West Germany from England and other countries via St. Pauli (see also Star-Club, Punk, The Beatles). The port also served as a gateway and hub for new ideas and cultural movements.


St. Pauli has several small art galleries, some of which are run by the artists themselves.


The pub La Paloma on Hans-Albers-Platz was run by the painter Jörg Immendorff. The statue of Hans Albers on the square was also designed by Immendorff.


gastronomy

As an entertainment district, St. Pauli is home to a multitude of music clubs, pubs, and discos of varying styles and quality, attracting Hamburg residents and tourists every weekend. According to the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit," St. Pauli and the immediate surroundings around the Karolinenviertel have the highest density of record stores specializing in vinyl in Germany.


Even the Swing Youth practiced cultural resistance against National Socialism here.



Many (music) trends came to West Germany from England and other countries via St. Pauli (see also Star-Club, Punk, The Beatles). The port also served as a gateway and hub for new ideas and cultural movements.


St. Pauli has several small art galleries, some of which are run by the artists themselves.


The pub La Paloma on Hans-Albers-Platz was run by the painter Jörg Immendorff. The statue of Hans Albers on the square was also designed by Immendorff.


Regular events

  • Three times a year, the Hamburger Dom, a fair, takes place on the Heiligengeistfeld for a period of four weeks each time.
  • The port's birthday is celebrated every May, also a large public festival.
  • The annual Schlagermove, a parade modeled after the Love Parade but featuring German Schlager music, usually proceeds through Spielbudenplatz and along the Reeperbahn. Efforts to find an alternative route for this large-scale event to alleviate the impact on local residents were unsuccessful in 2018 and 2019.
  • The Harley Days and the Eurovision Song Contest are also annual events.
  • The Reeperbahn Festival has been held annually in September on the Reeperbahn since 2006.


Also worth mentioning are the fish market, which takes place every Sunday, and the home games of FC St. Pauli.

 

Visit our St. Joseph Hotel St. Pauli in Hamburg, located next to the Reeperbahn in the Kiez district.