In this is all still here! In early I was invited to tour a former brothel, in what was one of Taipei's red light districts. I had just finished drawing Taipei, and was already interested in drawing the Dadaocheng area, so I went along. I've noticed a lot of my maps Dadaocheng, Toad Mountain, soon Losheng are born out of areas that are a bit special, and are in some way threatened with destruction. By the time I've visited these areas, met people there, and explored a bit, I almost can't help but draw them.
Guisui Street was formerly an important route from the wharfs on the Danshui River, to markets in the north of the city. It has a long history based around merchant trade and manufacturing. The stretch of Guisui between Chongqing and Ningxia Roads was once one of Taipei's red light districts.
The other I know of is located near Longshan Temple in Wanhua, and though I just walked through, it seems it's very much still in operation.
The Guisui area was designated a brothel district by the Japanese Government in the 's and grew quite large. Interestingly, the area's main police station from that era, along with the old police dormitory buildings, back right onto the street. The Wenmeng building is on Guisui near the intersection with Ningxia.
It's housed in a small building from It doesn't look all that special from the outside, there are still a moderate amount of small three windowed brick buildings in the Dadaocheng area. But inside it has been preserved as it was when it was last a working brothel, and it is currently a small museum. It's like a time warp from the 70's or 80's. The building had been a licensed brothel until , when sex work was outlawed and the district here closed down.
