User:Seyhan668/Nightlife

Nightlife and adult entertainment
Adana is one of the most liberal cities of Turkey towards nightlife and adult entertainment. The city was well known its vibrant nightlife and many pavyons during the decades from 1950s to 1980s. Although some were family entertainment places, pavyons mostly functioned as adult entertainment clubs similar to hostess clubs of Japan, with live music, usually two storey, a stage and a lounge with tables lined up at the main floor and private rooms at the upper floor. The first pavyons opened in the city by 1942 with the arrival English workers who built the Adana-Ulukışla road which funded by the British Government to convince Turkey to form a front at the World War II. As Çukurova cotton is valued by early 1950s, the surplus took landowners to the pavyons which opened more and more along the Seyhan river. In 1960s, rapid industrialization brought more men to pavyons not only from the city, but from a wide region including Istanbul and Ankara, thus Adana was named 'Pavyon Capital of Turkey'. Many popular singers took stage at and owe their fame to the pavyons of Adana. Bargirls working at the pavyons were coming from allover Turkey, and many were getting quickly rich with the money spread on them. Also at this period, it was not uncommon for a man to have affair with a mistress at the expense of the wife.

Pavyons led their way to western style pubs and night clubs by late 1980s with the socio-economic changes in Adana. The city with strong entertainment culture has easily adopted to the new style, as many classy clubs opened since then. The traditional entertainment district is Sular, near Central Station, but the pubs and clubs nowadays are spread to the entire city. The big clubs like Life Legend, Uptown, Casara and Lava host world star singers at their elegant locations, mostly along the river and the lake. There are still two active pavyons, Afrodit and Maksim, but adult entertainment is directed mostly to what is locally known as tele-bars. Tele-bars are licensed as regular pubs, but function as places where bargirls entertain customers and usually hook with them afterwards somewhere outside the bar. There are around 20 tele-bars mainly in the city center and around the old dam.

The Adana Brothel, in the old town, was made up of houses lining up along a dead end street which was gated at the street entrance and was secured by a policeman, gateman and a military person. The prostitutes were classified into three and each class had their own houses and customers. First class prostitutes were young and attractive, second class were middle-aged women and the third class were older and 'less attractive' ones. Each prostitute used to host a friend in her off-days, even giving him money to get protected by him in return. The brothel moved west of the Central Bus Station in 1980s.

LGBT life is hidden in Adana like most of Turkey. Hamams in the city center are the favorite meeting places for gays. They also meet at some pubs, clubs and at the city parks, especially in the Atatürk Park after it gets dark. Many transgendered live prison lives at their family homes, some do leave home and become prostitutes and some move to Istanbul to join the big LGBT community, but still end up with prostitution since they can not find any other choice.