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| Free & Easy 01 - 06 - 2002 |
| Party Never Stops |
At times, there's the famous Love Parade. At other times, as daylight fades,
Berlin reinvents herself and takes on a number of forms: some seedy, others
swanky. That's what Rashmi Uday Singh finds out, as she explores the night
club capital of the world
This is the truth: Berlin never ceases to amaze me. One night merges into
the next afternoon, and there are no closing hours. The city sprawls by
the river Spree and has more waterways and bridges than Venice. She is nine
times bigger than Paris, and preens herself with the finest European opera,
theatre and art.
As evening approaches, she does a quick change and reinvents herself in
myriad forms, some grotty, others swish and swanky. I don't make any distinctions
though, and simply waft from clubs to bars to jazz bars, lounge bars, discotheques
and parties.
Rumour has it that when the Mayor sent out his statistician to count the
number of bars and nightclubs in the city, he never returned. But I'm back
to tell the tale. I become a persistent bar fly. I ferret out information
from a fellow food critic, grill Karl Schroeder, Editor of Prinz and author
of several books on Berlin, attend a pre-party of 'Famous Models', and make
many a buddy out of the night club owners.
I float across different districts and find that while established Berlin
institutions such as the Sage Club or Tresor continue to thrive, the city
is abuzz with new discos, clubs, lounges and cocktail bars. This is especially
so in the trendier districts of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain.
Even Potsdammer Platz, the new business district, has a new three-floored
discotheque: the Blu. The music ranges from techno to trance, house, drum
'n' bass, hip hop, African R&B, soul, post punk, neo-grunge, industrial
and Latino.
Interestingly, these clubs are put up in all kinds of venues, from breweries
to chocolate factories and even bank vaults! As I move from one to another
on savagely cold mornings, it seems as if the more temperatures dip outside,
the hotter it gets inside. Skirts get shorter, necklines plunge deeper.
I try to get a whiff of it all.
SAGE CLUB
Moving past the bouncers and the huge door, I find myself in a whole
different world. A DJ with dreadlocks looms, on a giant swing over the dance
floor. Stone gargoyles spew fire in a medieval hall, while the many bars
and dance floors all look hazy with smoke and light. Frank, Benny and Sasha,
the three young owners, take me by the hand and escort me around. They tell
me that the club, formerly the Boogalloo Groove station, was once the Mecca
of Berlin hip hop and continues to dominate the night club scene.
Kopinecker Strasse, 78 Mitte, 10179
SODA
I meet Frank Eisenthal, the young and enthusiastic owner of Soda, spread
out over a 35,000 sq. ft. brewery. This is where Madonna has her after-show
parties whenever she is in the city. So does the Chancellor. At the large
wooden-floored restaurant, I devour a Weiner Schnitzel that is great value
for money. I also freak out at the discotheque where four DJs play funk,
soul, house and, on Sundays, some salsa. I chill in the lounge. Outside,
in the freezing cold, young Berliners sway to the music while waiting to
get in. Some college students tell me they will stay at Soda till 4 am and
then move to their regular haunt, Sternradio, where they will party at least
until noon the next day!
Knackerst, 97 Prenzlauerberg.
90 DEGREES
This trendy club has three crammed bars, a dance floor, gleaming mirrors,
thick velvety drapes, gossamer curtains, piercing strobes and plenty of
action. It's where the 'Famous Models' pre-party continues. I am invited
to swing with this fashionable set and gyrate on the dance floor. I use
my camera a lot, and the well-known German models pout and pose all too
willingly. Outside, dawn is breaking, but inside it is cool and dark, and
we are still creatures of the night.
90 Degrees, Dennewitzstr 37 10785 Berlin
THE LOVE PARADE
The legendary, and longest, party in the world. Think several
Woodstocks dumped into the middle of a major European capital. It
is completely over the top, with wild dancing and a lot of noise.
The brainchild of a DJ called Dr Motte, the Love Parade attracts over
two million people every July. Floats and techno music do the rounds
through the streets, while scores of parties simultaneously take place
in night clubs all around the city. All hotels are crammed with party
animals, while non-raving Berliners watch it on TV at home.
The Parade started in 1989, with 350 people playing techno and house
on a couple of floats. A year ago, three hard core pornography films
were shot right in the middle of the parade, two of them on floats
by the Kit Kat club.
The club, made famous by Liza Minelli's Cabaret, epitomises Berlin's
decadence - plenty of stimulants, without it being seedy. In many
ways, it is the most relaxing night club in the city. Not a place
for the narrow-minded though, considering half the crowd is in 'fetish
clothing, and the other without any. As most Berliners will agree,
the Parade has come a long way. |
GREENWICH
A long-floored bar packed to capacity and artfully designed with space
age curves and fish tanks. The mezzanine lounge brims over with good-looking
folk. There is no sign on the small, nondescript door outside, but everybody
seems to know about it. Everybody who is anybody, that is.
5 Gippstrasse, Mitte. No telephone.
COOKIES
It is my last night in Berlin. "Never heard of Cookies," says
the concierge of Adlon, my historic five-star hotel. His assistant nudges
him and they manage to pull out the address, but no telephone number Once
again, there is no name outside. Cookies is open only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
It has a high ceiling, and a large, island bar The dance floor bears a deserted
look because it is 1 am - too early!
I love the funky basement vaults and safe deposit areas of the original
bank's office, which have been preserved the way they were. The club is
named after a mysterious Mr Cookie that no one has met, but whom, after
a great deal of chasing, I managed to speak to. He has a real name. Heinz
Gindulle.
22 Charlottenstrasse.
RESTAURANTS AND COFFEE
No one really comes to Berlin to eat, but there are some great restaurants
here, some of which stay open late. The fifty-year-old Paris Bar, for example,
draws all kinds of international stars like Danny DeVito and George Clooney,
who often hang around till breakfast. The owner, Reinald Nohal, is an absolute
delight, and so is the French food. Ditto with the high-ceilinged Borchadt,
where I have the most incredible steak, and a Lemon Grass Crème Brulee.
Grabbing a late-night coffee is another night-owl activity. I am charmed
by Austrian coffee houses like Café Einstein, which stay open till
dawn and serve a superb Sacher torte.
JOSTT'S
Almost surrealistic, I tell myself. The ornate, carved ceiling from
a bygone era and heavy, crystal chandelier shimmers onto a slick new bar.
Through its glass walls, the Sony office's multi-storeyed lights glitter
Both are at two extremes, and it is here that I find the spirit of brave
Berlin. In a bar! It is here that old Berlin meets new Berlin, pre-war Germany
meets post-war Germany. All a stone's throw away from where the historic
Berlin wall once stood.
Berlin has always had a reputation for the extreme, which probably explains
its night life. Until the end of the 80s, the walled city attracted radicals
with its military service exemptions. Geopolitical circumstances made it
hard to get out of town on weekends, so drinking and clubbing became the
central form of leisure. After the wall fell, many warehouses were converted
into techno clubs that stayed open for days at a time. Those were the days
of electro sleaze and happy house, illicitly pulsing through dark bunkers.
Then, the love parade grew and the underground scene spilled out on to the
streets. Suddenly, it seemed as if the whole city was a club that wouldn't
close. Liberal licensing laws -which still do not specify any closing time
- continued to nurture the nightlife. Finally, West Berliners brought club
land to the corroding corridors of the East. The trend continues...
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