Friedrichstadt

(Back to Berlin - Weimar Republic)

(see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt)

 Friedrichstadt 

Berlin's downtown district stands in stark contrast to the Alexanderplatz. Bisected by the Friedrichstrasse, the city's main north-south artery, are luxury hotels, government buildings (the Prussian Parliament meets here), churches, museums, business high-rises (chiefly financial and publishing houses), many upscale theaters such as the Konzerthaus, and indoor shopping arcades like the Kaisergalerie. Many of these are centered on the Gendarmenmarkt, the original cultural center of Berlin; Friedrichstrasse has sometimes been called "Berlin's Champs-Elysees".

Yet the Friedrichstadt's glory days are behind it. The chief destination for shopping and entertainment prior to the Great War, it has since lost that crown to The Ku'damm (Kurfurstendamm). Now its square-mile area is increasingly home to gay bars, strip clubs, massage parlors, and greasy spoons, as well as the sleazy Linden Passage, an arcade 300 years (274 m) long. Like the Friedrichstrassenpassage, it was once an upscale shopping and entertainment emporium that nowadays mostly serves as a place for Doll-Boys (young male teenage prostitutes) to strut their stuff. No other spot in Berlin more aptly illustrates the fallen fortunes of the city than this Wilhelmine monument to Neo-Baroque excess and splendor now serving as a picking-up joint for underage prostitutes.

These two sides of the Friedrichstadt operate independently of each other. When the sun comes up, the area is flooded with businessmen and civil servants in hat and tie, going about their daily business; however, after the commuter hordes leave at 5:00 pm, the bars open and the real fun begins, lasting until around 3:00 in the morning. In addition to a profusion of clubs and bars, the swarming hordes of tourists and party-goers might spend some time at the Kerkau-Palast, a massive hall containing 48 pool tables - as well as rooms for chess-playing - founded by the Carom billiards champion Hugo Kerkau, or indulge in a bit of titillation at the Anatomical Wonder Cabinet, an all-nude show dedicated to "documenting female beauty - no children allowed!"