St. Pauli is incredibly multifaceted and is especially known for its nightlife. You can find here an immense number of bars, pubs, restaurants and clubs. But St. Pauli is also known for its red light district and there are problems with violent disputes from time to time. The district is also interesting because it is located directly on one of the largest seaports in the world, and this fact still characterises what St. Pauli is today.

But what does it look like during the day when the night owls have disappeared? Are the pubs empty then? Who lives in St.Pauli? What does the true soul of the district look like? Sometimes life in St. Pauli seems like a cycle to me: In the evening the tourists come, at night the Hamburg nighthawks, and when the trash is pushed aside in the morning, the neighborhood belongs to its residents again until the next evening.

Since the 90s, I have been on the streets of St. Pauli again and again. Deviating from the usual customs, I liked to stay here even during the day. Looking back, I'm not sure it was wise to spend so much time in pinball arcades, but this place has an inexplicable attraction for me.

Endless possibilities - even during the day.

The people I meet during the day, young and old, have an alternative lifestyle, others seem to have none at all. There are pubs and bars that never seemed to close. Some play hard techno sound, others shanties. In the Summer there are open-air festivals and art projects. There is a huge event area here where folk fairs take place and a large soccer stadium for a professional team is located right next door. And above all this watches a bunker from the Second World War.

But this is also where normal life takes place. Children are taken to school, postmen deliver the mail, suppliers deliver to pubs and the laundry is washed in laundromats. St. Pauli is also home to two churches, who care about the well-being of the people of St. Pauli. St. Joseph-Kirche is located in one of the noisiest and wildest streets of the district, which represents a bizarre contrast. The other church, St. Pauli Kirche, is located between the entertainment district and the port. The park-like property is open to all residents. They like to use it - even just to play a game of ball and enjoy a cold beer.

How much change is healthy?

Of course, gentrification has not stopped at St. Pauli and many cherished things have disappeared. In order to understand this, you have to know that historically St. Pauli was a part of the city where mainly the working class and low-income groups settled. This is still noticeable today, but due to the aforementioned displacement through gentrification, fewer and fewer of the resident population can afford to live in St. Pauli. But the changes on st. Pauli also show themselves in other ways. The local beer "Astra" is no longer brewed here and the commercial sprees seem to be scaling ever new heights, especially in the evenings. On the other hand, people were already grumbling about the new entertainment formats in the 90s. Change is part of the big city. Not only in Hamburg.

And the fact that a district is developing is not necessarily negative. An example of this is the public park 'Park Fiction', where young people especially like to spend their free time. Here is played a lot of basketball or it is the lawn just enjoy the view of the harbour.

What has remained are many beautiful things, such as the harbor panorama, which I will probably never get tired of. St. Pauli is still the place that attracts many young people. New things are constantly being created. The district never seems to sleep. It is a lot of fun to stroll through St. Pauli during the day. Everything is unstressed and the observations are quite different than at night.