The Red Light District

Red light district

Now in case you did not know: Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. And the use & sale soft drugs are tolerated. Prostitution has existed in Amsterdam as an institution since the city’s beginning in the 13th centruy… It is a port city. The hos of olden days were forced into one area and they used to walk the streets carrying red lanterns to try to lessen the confusion as to why they were walking the streets acting like hos.. As time went by the girls started to advertise in the windows of their own homes or from front facing rooms rented from another homeowner. And here we are today!

There are a few things that will get you dirty looks: smoking a joint in public places (restaurants & the street) and photographing the girls in the Red Light District. Shooting photos of the girls is strictly prohibited. Don’t even think of setting off a flash around them hos!! You will get cussed out.

I remember the first time I walked into the Red Light District and saw the “girls” standing in their picture windows with a neon bar of light over the top . Even the lights that rim the canals at that point are all red… the lights are white along every other canal throughout the city.

You walk to the Red Light District and jump right down into the Rabbit Hole! You ain’t in Kansas anymore Kiddo – or Chicago, or Dallas or New York or even Rome baby!!

And there they are – in bra & panties – garter belts – thigh highs and several inch high shoes. Interspersed between all of this are live sex shows, porn stores, and coffee houses (where the sale and consumption of pot & hashish is tolerated) and garish souvenir shops.

They are standing in door frame sized windows pumping and grinding, teasing and licking their lips, rubbing themselves and squeezing their tits… trying to get your attention. The girls are special… a rare breed in a world where such blatant naughtiness is an aberration – a sin!!

They are all ethnicities, shapes and sizes. Some are hot, some look like hose bags, some are thick and I found an entire row of big black women with huge tits & thighs. There is a little section of drag queens. They are everywhere in the Red Light District. And I am completely obsessed with them.

And so is the rest of the world. I think the tourists check into their hotels and then head for the Red Light District. – as they should.

And the tourists just stand and gawk. What else can you do? Walk by politely? Pretend that there are not dozens of half naked women trying to get you to buy some? Actually it’s not much different than your average Hip Hop Video, only the girls aren’t in hot tubs or swimming pools. Oh, yeah, there are brothels too, if you want your Hos in a house.

Did I mention the “Live Sex shows? Yep! Went to one. And they are “doing it” for real…the in and out, the horizontal boogie, knocking uglies, fucking right there not thirty feet from your face on a revolving bed. Don’t wanna miss any angles. Photography is strictly forbidden there also. But it is very choreographed. The same show every hour with different vignettes, just like a porn video. Ho Hum!

The doormen got a kick outta a lone female going in. Most of the audience is made up of couples or hordes of drunken men. Yawn snore. And the doormen stand outside the entrances calling out like Carnies: “C’mon in! Live, Fucky! Fucky!” I swear to God. I had a drink with one guy after he finished his shift. He was cute and going to art school. He had a show going on at a prominent space in town. He does the “calling” for the money. He’s a big guy as these doormen double as bouncers in case some “drunken fook” gets out of line.

To be continued…