Anders Petersen - Café Lehmitz - Hardcover

Café Lehmitz, a beer joint at the end of the Reeperbahn, was a meeting point and often also the end of the road for many who worked in Hamburg's notorious red-light district : prostitutes, pimps, transvestites, workers and petty criminals. Anders Petersen, born in 1944 in Sweden, was eighteen years old when he first visited Hamburg, chanced upon Café Lehmitz and established friends that made an impact on his life. In 1968 he returned to Lehmitz, found new "regulars", renewed contact and began to photograph - intermittently for two years. His photos, which we published for the first time in book form in 1978, have become classics of their genre - Tom Waits used our cover picture for his LP Rain Dogs. Their candidness and authenticity continue to move the viewer. The solidarity evident in them, reminiscent of that in Brassï's work, prevents either voyeurism or false pity arising vis-à-vis a milieu generally referred to as "asocial." The "other" world of Café Lehmitz, which no longer exists today in this form, becomes visible as a lively community with its own self-image and dignity.

Café Lehmitz, a beer joint at the Reeperbahn, was a meeting point for many who worked in Hamburg's red-light district: prostitutes, pimps, transvestites, workers, and petty criminals. Anders Petersen was 18 years old when he first visited Hamburg in 1962, chanced upon Café Lehmitz, and established friends that made an impact on his life. In 1968 he returned to Lehmitz, found new regulars , renewed contact and began to take pictures.