Nollendorfplatz

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

 Nollendorfplatz 

This working-class area, which includes the adjacent neighborhoods of Nollendorfplatz and Wilmersdorf, is located to the south of Berlin's sparkling west end. It is also a hub of Berlin's gay and lesbian community and home to Erwin Piscator's Communisttheater, the Neues Schauspielhaus, which seats 1,200 people; on the upper floor is the Mozartsalle, now a major cinema hosting premieres.

The Schubert-Saal, a "neighborhood" theater, is the site of frequent gay and lesbian balls, as well as the "Bad-Boy Balls" and "beach parties" put on by the Damenklub Altes Geld (Old-Money Ladies' Club). This area abounds with lesbian and gay Dielen (bars) and clubs. In 1928, the famous drag club Eldoradoopens a second location just off Nollendorfplatz proper. Here, is the neighborhood of Christopher Isherwood, W. H. Auden, Jean Ross, and many other expatriate writers and bohemians. This proletarian stronghold is also a major distribution point for the city's cocaine trade and a locus of various sadomasochistic clubs and brothers catering to clients of both sexes.

The run-down apartments in this district are blackened and soot-stained, and a constant smog hangs over the area due to the proliferation of coal fires burning in stoves and heaters. The once-grand buildings are falling into ruins, victims of economic collapse, Stucco and plaster peel off and fall like snowflakes to the ground below. In the words of Sir Stephen Spencer, "A peculiar and all-pervading smell of hopeless decay comes out of the interiors of these grandiose houses, now converted into pretentious slums."