Sin City (description)

Sin City is an urban area (a city or part of) that caters to various vices. These vices may be legal (depending on area) or illegal activities which are tolerated.

Examples of vices include sex-related services (prostitution, strip clubs, sex shops, etc.), gambling (casinos, betting shops, etc.), or drug use (alcohol, marijuana, etc. consumption), and even excessive organized crime and gang activity. If the area is known for prostitution, it is often called a red-light district, as in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Sin Cities in the world

Cities or areas that have this reputation include:

Asia

• Dubai
• Pattaya, Thailand (prostitution, strip clubs, sex shows, BDSM, brothels, massage parlors, cabarets, go-go bars, drugs, drinking, clubbing, muay thai boxing)^[1]
• Bangkok, Thailand (prostitution,^[2] strip clubs, sex shows, scams, BDSM, brothels, massage parlors, cabarets, go-go bars, drugs, drinking, clubbing, muay thai boxing)
• Tel Aviv, Israel (strip clubs, drinking, clubbing, parties)
• Beirut, Lebanon (prostitution, strip clubs, cabarets, drugs, drinking, clubbing)
• Manama, Bahrain (prostitution, drinking)
• Macau, China (gambling, organized crime, clubbing, prostitution, drinking)^[3]

^[4]

• Dongguan, China (prostitution)^[5][6]
• Angeles City, Philippines (prostitution, gambling, drinking, clubbing)^[7]

Europe

• Soho, London, England, United Kingdom (prostitution)^[8]
• Ibiza, Spain (clubbing,^[9] drugs)
• Prague, Czech Republic (prostitution, clubbing, strip clubs, brothels)^[10]
• Amsterdam, Netherlands (prostitution, brothels, strip clubs, sex shops, sex shows, marijuana consumption)
• Ayia Napa, Cyprus (drugs, drinking, clubbing)^[11][12]
• Moscow, Russia (organized crime, gangs, clubbing, drinking, drugs, police corruption, political corruption, prostitution, strip clubs)
• Baku, Azerbaijan (political corruption, clubbing, drinking, bribery, police corruption, prostitution)

North America

• Atlantic City, New Jersey (gambling, bookmaking, drinking, prostitution, strip clubs, clubbing). In earlier decades, it was also known for organized crime, bookmaking, bootlegging, brothels, illegal gambling, speakeasies, police corruption, political corruption, prostitution.
• Baltimore, Maryland, United States, The Block (prostitution, drugs, strip clubs, organized crime)
• Biloxi, Mississippi (gambling, drinking, prostitution)
• Dallas, Texas and the entire Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (films, television, modeling, music (country/western, gangsta rap), prostitution, rodeo circuit, strip clubs, tabloids, sports, easy marriage, drugs, gangs, corruption, clubbing, plastic surgery, auto racing)
• Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States (Bragg Blvd, Hay Street, prostitution, drinking, drugs, gangs, violence, brothels, strip clubs)
• Lynn, Massachusetts, United States (gambling, prostitution, drinking, drugs, gangs, violence, corruption, brothels, organized crime)
• Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (gambling, bookmaking, easy marriage, easy divorce, prostitution [however, prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas and Clark County], strip clubs, cabarets, clubbing, 24-hour liquor sales [as in all of Nevada];^[13] quote: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."). In former days it was known also for organized crime and police and political corruption.
• Los Angeles (films, music, modeling, tabloids, scams, television, paparazzi, porn industry, prostitution, organized crime, gangs, BDSM clubs, clubbing, drinking, street performers, gangsta rap)
• Miami, and Miami-Dade County, Florida, (organized crime, gangs, drug trafficking, clubbing, prostitution, plastic surgery, drinking, police corruption, scams, strip clubs, and polticial corruption)
• New York City (films, music, modeling, tabloids, scams, television, paparazzi, formerly sex industry (Times Square), many teenage runaways, organized crime, gangs, drugs, strip clubs, BDSM clubs, clubbing, drinking, street performers, gangsta rap)
• Reno, Nevada^[14] (gambling, drinking, strip clubs, clubbing, easy marriage, easy divorce, prostitution [however, prostitution is illegal in Reno and Washoe County] 24-hour liquor sales [as in all of Nevada])
• San Francisco (scams, counter culture, prostitution, drugs, many teenage runaways, organized crime, gangs, BDSM clubs, clubbing, drinking, street performers)
• Tijuana, Mexico (organized crime, gangs, drug trafficking, clubbing, drinking, police corruption, political corruption, prostitution)

South America

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (male & female prostitution, scams, notorious prison system, police corruption, political corruption, drinking, drugs, favelas, gangs, clubbing)
• Caracas, Venezuela (scams, prison system corruption, police corruption, political corruption, prostitution, organized crime, drinking, drugs, slums, gangs, robbery, clubbing, drug trafficking, violence)

Australia

• Kings Cross, New South Wales A notorious inner-city of Sydney. (Prostitution, brothels, gambling (illegal and legal), organized crime, gangs (to an extent), police corruption, drugs, strip clubs, squeegee men, drinking, excessive violence.)

Former Sin Cities

Asia

• Shanghai, China, 1920s and 1930s.^[15] (organized crime, opium dens, gambling, police corruption, political corruption, prostitution)

Europe

• Berlin, Weimar Republic - 1920s and early 1930s (Prostitution, numerous cabarets, decadence in general)

North America

• New York City in the mid to late 19th Century (prostitution, brothels, illegal gambling, notorious slums, pickpocketing, police corruption, political corruption, drugs, gangs, organized crime), Times Square from the mid-1960s until circa 1990 (prostitution, pornography, go-go bars, sex shops, sex shows, squeegee men, strip clubs, clubbing, drugs, organized crime)
• New Orleans^[16] from 1897 through 1917, Storyville district (prostitution, brothels, gambling, and speakeasies)
• Chicago in the 1920s to 1930s (prostitution, bootlegging, cabarets, speakeasies, illegal gambling, bank robberies, police corruption, political corruption, organized crime, and gang activity)
• Covington, Kentucky and Newport, Kentucky (brothels, gambling, organized crime) ^[17]
• Utica, New York in the 1930s through the 1950s for the extent of its corruption and control from political machines, presence of organized crime.^[18]
• Galveston, Texas in the 1920s to 1957 (prostitution, organized crime, gambling, speakeasies, drinking, police corruption, political corruption)
• Miami, during the 1970s and 1980s (organized crime, drug trafficking, gangs, clubbing, drinking, police corruption, and politiical corruption)
• Montreal, which earned a reputation for vice through American tourists fleeing the prohibition laws.^[19]
• In 1955, Terre Haute, Indiana was labeled Sin City by the monthly magazine Stag. (reputation for being "wide open", with gambling and a well-developed "red light district"). Now the federal death row is in Terre Haute at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex.
• In the 1980-1990s Michigan City, Indiana was considered Sin City, with the proliferation of massage parlors

See also

• Vice City
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• Red-light district
• Sin City (film)

References

1. Mr Lore. "Sin City Pattaya, the naughty city of siam". On The Road Thailand. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
2. "Bangkok Thailand - Sin city - at its best". Globosapiens.net. 2002-08-22. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
3. Coonan, Clifford (July 25, 2009). "China's sin city: Inside the world's biggest gambling den". The Independent (London). Retrieved February 7, 2014.
4. Perera, Cheryl (2007-09-26). "Sin City". Gazette Magazine (Montreal, Canada: The Gazette) 62 (2). Archived from the original (– ^{Scholar search}) on November 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-02. its infamous 'Sin City'
5. Ghosh, Palash (May 7, 2013). "Prostitution Thriving In China: The Dark Underbelly of Economic Prosperity". International Business Times (New York City). Retrieved February 6, 2014.
6. Phillips, Tom (May 1, 2013). "Inside Dongguan, China's Sin City". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved February 6, 2014.
7. "Far East sex tourists exposed". BBC News (BBC). 2003-11-04. Archived from the original on 2004-02-26. Retrieved 2007-12-14. Nicknamed 'Sin City,' it is the centre of the Philippines sex industry and a magnet for travellers known as 'whorists', who want to have sex with young girls.
8. Horsley, Sebastian (2004-09-19). "The brothel creeper". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-05-23.
9. Alexandra Topping (2011-05-30). "Sin city to spin city: Las Vegas set to rival Ibiza as dance mecca | Music". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
10. "Prague Dog Eat Blog | Is Prague a sin city?". Prague-spot.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
11. Helena Smith in Ayia Napa, Cyprus (2002-06-17). "The Guardian". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
12. English, As Told To Paul; 700+ words. "High Beam". High Beam. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
13. "Why is Las Vegas Called Sin City? - Yahoo! Voices". voices.yahoo.com. 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
14. "Reno: Sin City Revisited". Robertwernick.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
15. "CBC-TV - Legendary Sin Cities - Shanghai". Archived from the original on June 12, 2008.
16. Jon Donley. "New Orleans ranked No. 7 Sin City in world | NOLA.com". Blog.nola.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
17. "Sin City, Newport, Kentucky". Retrieved 2012-12-08.
18. Herbers, John (March 26, 1989). "THE REGION; Tales From Elsewhere: Entering the New Era Of Municipal Rule". The New York Times (The New York Times). Retrieved 25 April 2015.
19. Fournier, Chris (2009-10-31). "Montreal’s scandals in mayoral race revive Sin City moniker". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.

External links

• Top 10: Sin Cities (at AskMen)