From the 18th century to the first decades of the 20th, the district of Ladadika was one of the most important for wholesale trade, mainly for oil (from where it got its name), spices,cereals and fabrics. The area started to decline after the Great Fire, and in the years that followed it became one of the city’s red light districts, frequented by locals as well as transient visitors of the port. The area’s gritty reputation reached its peak in the 1980s, when abandoned buildings turned to ruin and others hosted illegal activities.