The Hotel Luxor, also known as the Mehrer Hotel was the oldest

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

until its closure in April 2008. It was located on

Große Freiheit The Große Freiheit (German for: "Great Freedom") is a cross street on the North Side to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli quarter. It is part of the red-light district. History The street was named in 1610 after the fact that Count ...

St. Pauli St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

and first opened in 1948.

History

The Luxor was first opened in 1948 and most of its clients were from the nearby docks. By the 1960s the brothel had gained an international reputation and was especially popular with Japanese visitors. The golden age of Luxor was the 1970s, when up to twelve

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

worked in the house at the same time, and it was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The 1980s

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

epidemic affected the area badly and most of the other brothels in the area closed. In 1987, Waltraud Mehrer took over the running of the brothel from her father-in-law, who had first opened the brothel. The

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

was modernised in the 1990s. As a result of this, the number of sailors and dockers, who were a significant percentage of the brothel's clientele, coming to the Luxor reduced.

Closure

The Luxor was hosted by Mrs. Waltraud Mehrer for its last 21 years. At the time of its closure it only opened 4 days a week and just 4 women worked there. In March 2008, Ms. Mehrer announced that she would close the pleasure house due to the unprofitably of the business.

References

{{reflist Brothels in Germany Buildings and structures in Hamburg 1948 establishments in Germany 2008 disestablishments in Germany