Hold My Vodka

A St. Petersburg sex worker has reportedly spent about 25 years working the same roadside spot — long enough to become a local landmark.

Locals call her Alyonushka. According to residents quoted by SHOT, she was first noticed around Prospekt Veteranov in the late 1990s before moving in the early 2000s to a spot near the turnoff to the Leningrad Electromechanical Plant on Peterhof Highway.

She has reportedly been appearing there ever since, almost every day and usually in the same recognizable look with a short black skirt.

For some passengers on local buses, seeing Alyonushka through the window has apparently become as reliable a landmark as seeing their usual stop.

There is also a long-running local rumor that she once taught music and singing at a school before changing careers. Alyonushka herself reportedly denies that story.

After a quarter-century of consistency, SHOT joked that St. Petersburg has found its own Hachiko — except instead of waiting for an owner, Alyonushka has been waiting for customers.

The report even concluded that it might be time to put up a monument to her “for loyalty to one spot.” To be clear, that appears to be a joke rather than an actual proposal to the city.

Twenty-five years. One corner. At this point, she practically qualifies for historical preservation.

Original report: Radio 1 / SHOT