"If you are hearing this, you've come to the right place. NCPD, gang wars, not in Dogtown. Taxes? Who the fuck needs them. In Dogtown I keep your business safe as long as you abide by my rules."

─ Kurt Hansen

[Overview] Dogtown is a walled-off area located east of the Pacifica sub-districts of Coastview and West Wind Estate. It is divided into different areas including Longshore Stacks, Golden Pacific, Luxor Heights, Terra Cognita and more, all controlled by BARGHEST. Its main entrance is located north of the EBM Petrochem Stadium, in Coastview. The fastest way to enter and exit Dogtown is through the western gate, which also leads to Coastview.

In the 2020s Militech established a secret, experimental military project in this part of Pacifica, constructing bunkers and laboratories cleverly hidden beneath urban infrastructure. Nearly half a century later, a group of investors appeared, unaware they were building on the remains of an old military complex. When a lab was excavated at one of the construction sites, the investors were forced out of Pacifica and Militech erected a wall around the neighborhood ostensibly due to gas leaks, poor documentation on local developments and unexploded ordnance from the 4th Corporate War. In 2077, Dogtown has become a kind of city within a city, walled off from the rest of Night City with designated points of entry manned by Kurt Hansen's Militech-commandos-turned-militia-soldiers. On the streets one can still see the remnants of Pacifica's never-completed redevelopment - luxury hotels, swimming pools, dazzlingly sumptuous mansions: once destined for glory, now a dilapadated mess. Machinery abandoned by construction workers is also present and many of the buildings are nothing more than crumbling, vacant husks. The NCPD is forbidden to enter Dogtown proper, while Trauma Team rarely ventures inside due to the increased risk and the fact that hardly anyone in Dogtown has TT insurance. True enough, Hansen's people serve as local law enforcement, but are far from what one would call "police officers". Maybe they'll help, maybe they won't - their primary concern is ensuring the neighborhood doesn't descend into total anarchy. Small local squabbles and conflicts? Not worth their precious time. So who lives in Dogtown? Mostly those on the run from corps, gangs or the NCPD. But ordinary people find themselves in the mix too - those pushed beyond the margins of society in Night City and who were brave or desperate enough to try their luck here.

[Creation of Dogtown]

The Unification War (2069 - 2070) halted Pacifica's success in its tracks. As fears mounted that the New United States would invade Night City from Southern California and Pacifica would then become a battlefield, corporations and other investors raced to withdraw their fundings from the district's ongoing projects.

It was during the war when NUSA Colonel Kurt Hansen asserted control of a portion of Pacifica. Hansen ignored his orders to leave the area after the war, showing his disdain for the Arvin Accord, and carved his own private paradise, eventually becoming some sort of military tyrant. With Night City's economy already on a downturn, the effect on Pacifica was disastrous and much of the district was left incomplete and lawless. Construction work was put on permanent hold, leaving most buildings as unfinished hulks of concrete and steel. Not long after, gangs and the homeless moved in. Former Serenisands — controlled by Hansen's people — became a Combat Zone, and at some point was cut-off from the rest of Pacifica.

Although it was originally simply known as the Combat Zone, people started to refer to it as Dogtown due to Hansen and his BARGHEST militia.

Instead of scrapping the cargo aerozep that crashed into the EBM Petrochem Stadium, Dogtown repurposed its nuclear engine to feed the district's energy demand without depending on exterior suppliers.

After establishing Dogtown's Black Market, gun trade and other unsavory dealings turned the former area of Pacifica into a very profitable business. As such, the powers-that-be decided to leave it alone, allowing Hansen to continue as its ruler. With no corporations or outside laws, Dogtown's upper echelon thrived in it, while the rest of the district's citizens teetered on the brink of poverty. For years, many people arrived there in hopes of escaping their past and find a better life within its walls. What they didn't realize is that they were simply changing one overlord for another.

[2077]

By 2077, Dogtown was still under the iron fist of Colonel Hansen and his militia. Around this time, NUSA President Myers's Space Force One was struck down above Night City, eventually crash-landing somewhere within Dogtown.