Alhambra district

The Alhambra neighborhood is right in the center of the capital: if this were London or Paris, it would be an unaffordable residential area for the elite. At its peak (2005), there were dozens of places in the Alhambra neighborhood where sex was for sale. The many bars and service locations had names like Jimmy, Stanley, Diamant, Tropicana, ’t Genot, 5th Avenue, and Taverne 54. “At that time, it was really hell here,” says Jan Leerman, chairman of the Alhambra Neighborhood Committee. He has lived in the neighborhood for more than twenty years, which could not be better located. Right in the center of the capital: if this were London or Paris, it would be an unaffordable residential area for the elite. With the arrival of prostitution, however, the Alhambra neighborhood deteriorated visibly. “Some nights, we counted 600 cars passing through the narrow streets of our neighborhood each hour, all men looking for sex. An endless carousel. When a customer rolled down his car window to negotiate with a woman, everyone behind him started honking. And that almost every night, for hours on end.”

Pascal Brackman