What was the red light district like 25 years ago

At first glance, the red light district in Amsterdam has hardly changed over the years. Courtesans still look invitingly at passers-by, drunken singing is heard from shabby bars, and now and then police officers strut down the street. The townspeople, however, claim that there used to be a completely different life here. The quarter has become less authentic. The authorities closed a lot of coffee shops, and all the priestesses of love, who used to walk freely, were hidden behind windows with curtains.

Photographer Huub Prikaerts lived nearby in the 90s and actively captured the seething reality. People with a camera were always treated unfriendly here, so he took pictures from the hip, pretending to look the other way. The method is ambiguous, but the Prikaerts made a lot of cool shots.