It was not until 1937 that the district of Altona was affiliated to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg and, shortly after this, ceased to be an autonomous town. Today's face of Altona is very versatile and has both beautiful and less representative motifs to offer. To the west of the train station, the mall Ottenser Hauptstraße and a big shopping centre invite to a stroll. The adjacent streets are still predominated by cobblestone pavement and beautiful fin-de-siecle buildings. To the east and in North of Altona, however, grey high-rise Buildings prevail, which were erected during the post- war- period. Culturally the former working class quarter is very diverse as well; next to large chain stores there are still a number of smaller retail shops, many of which carry exotic names.