Vivian Street is a mostly one-way
arterial road
An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...
in central
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It forms a part of the country's
State Highway 1
The following highways are numbered 1.
For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads.
For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads.
For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads.
For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads.
For roads numbere ...
network.
Since March 2007, Vivian Street's one-way direction has flowed east-bound, following the completion of the
Wellington Inner City Bypass
The Wellington Inner City Bypass is a westbound one-way road varying from two to four lanes largely at ground level in central Wellington, New Zealand, part of New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, and was fully opened in March 2007.
T ...
through
Te Aro
Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...
.
Red-light district
The street was part of Wellington's
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 ...
, particularly in its western half around the junction of
Cuba Street,
during most of the 20th century. It contained strip joints, peep shows and illegal
brothels
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 pa ...
.
During
WW1
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
the area was known as Gallipoli due to the number of soldiers visiting the area. With the decriminalisation of
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, 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, n ...
in the early 21st century, Vivian Street's 'reputation' is undergoing a revival, with the recent opening of ''Il Bordello Gentlemen's Club'', and the reopening of the ''Liks Bar''. Between these two establishments is a live music venue for underground musicians and other emerging artists of New Zealand, ''Valve Bar''.
References
External links
Wises Map of Vivian Street
Streets in Wellington City
Red-light districts in New Zealand
State Highway 1 (New Zealand)
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