The First Days of Berlin

Berlin is a city where history is always on the move. Since my first days here, almost two decades ago, the rapid change of landscape - both visual and socio-cultural - felt like centuries. Some may say the city is going in the wrong direction - towards pronounced gentrification and middle-class blandless. I dare to say that that´s one of the misteries of change - to be inconvenient first, always unpredictable, dislocating habits but nevertheless never fully heading in the ´wrong´; it´s just us who are afraid of change.

The thing of growing up as an adult in a place you are not born to is that you cannot really have the feeling of the very old times without a little help from books. You have no memories or why and how things changed, so you need to fill those gaps in case you really want to be aware of the full picture. 

And when it comes to Berlin´s first years of its new life chapter, the reunification, I obviously have so much to learn. 

Cultural journalist Ulrich Gutmair filled those space with a book mostly focused on the alternative lifestyle built around Tacheles in Mitte. Once a no man´s land, at the border between two worlds, nowadays is one of the most expensive places to live and dine in the city. Old punks and hippies, the first clubs in ´occupied´ buildings, vacated after the unification: those are the signs, but the a society and life choices. Understading the German mentality, particularly in Berlin, is almost impossible without putting together all those pieces of the puzzle, which is carefully built in this book, through interviews with people involved in various local streams and the author´s own memories.

It´s a recommended read to anyone interested in a deeper and personal knowledge about Berlin, a bit different one that may hear and read about in the news.

Here are some old pictures from Tacheles that I took back in 2011, part of a blog post I´ve written at a time when I was super excited to explore courageously on my own everything about Berlin and beyond.

I´ve visited recently the place - and had an over priced Rhubarber and Poppy small piece of cake - horrible combination, if you trust my foodie blogger buds. The old Tacheles is mostly gone, the only memories still maintained are within the part of the building hosting Fotografiska art gallery. All those graffiti do bring a bit of life to the otherwise brutalist structurer. The rest of the space, whose modern architecture I don´t necessarily reject, is hosting startups and various offices.

Knowing the histories behind it make the visiting experience more interesting.

Fotos by me: 2024, 2011