Berlin Nightlife

I was lucky to eat. drink, listen to the blues concert and meet 3 other VT-ers in Yorckschlosschen.

History and tradition
The Yorckschlosschen (I called it easy Yorck :-) exists under same name for over 100 years now. The club became a real Kreuzberg institution.
It was a rather middle-class corner pub in the 1960s but it increasingly became an artists' watering hole in the early '70s.

Blues and jazz kingdom
Berlin's musicians like to get together there, which is not surprising after almost twenty years of regular live music. Every musician in the city wants to perform there. The emphasis is on traditional jazz, swing and black rhythm'n'blues. You can hear the best in New Orleans jazz, soul and blues there.

Interior
The place is small - the main room contains of small scene (max. for 3-4 musicians), small (large pizza size) tables and bar on the back. There is one more room. On the walls there are numerous old and new pictures of various jazz/blues musicians who played there. Above the scene there was famous New Orleans Jazz club Preservation Hall sign.

People and atmosphere
There were a lot of people of various age: 20 to say 70 inside. This tavern was a true melting pot. It seems that everyone meets here - young and old, poor and rich - and no-one takes exception to anyone else.

Photography inside
Not allowed (as you can see on my picture :-) although I saw one guy taking pictures inside with a flash and I... followed him. They didn't kill me. By the way the ban on photography was written almost on the ceiling and exclusively in German.

Under construction:
Drinks
Eating

In this famous Yorckschlosschen Club and Bar in artistic district (Berlin's Mont-Martre) Kreuzberg where both famous and a little underground jazz/blues bands used to play I met three VT-ers living in Berlin:
- Gillian (GillianMcLaughlin)
- Karin (Karin1S)
- Dimitris (Dimi1)
Thank you very much my new friends, you made our evening, one never to forget :-)


We went there at about 9.00 pm on Saturday. Karin booked the table for us five, just in front of small scene. Thanks a lot Karin, the place was crowded with people of age 20 to maybe 70 :-) and there were exclusively standing places when we came in. We were talking a lot, enjoying our company, beer and the atmosphere a lot.

CONCERT
There are live jazz, blues, rythm'n blues, blues rock etc. concerts on each Wednesday and Saturday night (start at 9.00 or 10.00 pm) and on each Sunday afternoon (2.00 pm) in the club. The concerts are free of charge. The customers are surcharged a little money (a few eurocents) for everything they order during concerts. Better book a table (call the number below a few days before) unless you want to stay.

On 28 Feb 2004 at 10 pm the concert "Kuchenbecker's Back in Town" of bluesy swing quartet started. They played both Blues and Swing standarts and their own compositions. I liked especially the sax solo actions by Walsdorf and "high energy" bassist Kuckenbecker. They played till as I remember 1.00 am.

The band:
Berndt Kuckenbecker - bassist,
Henrik Walsdorf - saxophone (my favourite),
Uli Jenne?e - drums,
Karl Schloz from NYC - guitar.

Dress Code: Anything you want. It was a laid-back place

1 more image

This rustic little brew pub offers typical Berlin/German food they also brew their own beer and burn their own schappes! Order the metre of beer and enjoy the surprise!

What I like about this place most of all is the excellent beer...but also it always seems to attract an interesting crowd..don't miss the Flammkuchen, which is a sort of pizza except the crust is much thinner and you don't get the pizza toppings but a special cream cheese with ham and onions is especially tasty!

Dress Code: No special dress code in effect!

4 more images

Another nice place to enjoy your stay and evenings in Berlin is the
“Marlene Bar” Also part of the InterConti Hotel – Budapester Strasse – Zoo area.
What is fascinating was the collection of pictures decorating the walls
Pictures of Marie Magdelene Dietrich von Losch – better known as
Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) or Der Blaue Engel (1930

Dress Code: Leisure

3 more images

Advertised as the "Best and largest pub in Berlin".
The clientele is international , the management and servants will look to it
that you enjoy the warm and familiar hospitality of an Irish Guinness hole.
Located under the Europa Platz Shopping Center (Tauentzienstrasse near the memorial church.)
The pub has many entries secured by “Porters” – a lot of smaller speaking corners
and a typical English counter of 36 m long.
All around TV monitoring so you will not miss the english soccer games
Live music every evening around 9PM:
- Jackpot
- Hot Stuff etc...
There is a monthly fixed programm available on the net.

Dress Code: Leisure

1 more image

Try an evening on this busy street where I have found the food to be generally good with exceptions, I would encourage you to read my specific hint about individual restaurants. You certainly wont be disappointed in the choice although there is definitely a far eastern and asian biase (whose complaining about that!!)Coming from the uk the prices appear reasonable at about 10 euros for a main course.

Dress Code: I'm not a short, tie and suit man and to date I havent been turned away or felt that the treatment I recieved was anything but excellent (even when the food is poor). Berlin is a laid back sort of city and as far as I can make out more or less anything is acceptable.

A good Night life Tip in Berlin is taking part of the pub Crawl.
You can find the information about the pub Crawl in almost every hostel. Or just go to the

The Pub Crawl has moved locations! It's now starts at S-Bahn Oranienburgerstr, in the heart of the going out district. Check out www.newberlintours.com/pubcrawl for a map of the exact location!

Why is the pub crawl so great ? It isnt :o) but the main reason I want to tip it to you is because you meet many fellow travelers... and thats the main reason we travel to see interesting places and meet interesting people. The varity of nationalities makes the pub crawl so great.... so its a must when you want to meet other people....have fun

I had a lot of fun....

Dress Code: just what you like to wear...

2 more images

The Velvet lounge is a small stylish cocktail bar connected to the Arcotel Velvet Hotel in the Mitte district. We stayed in the hotel and were keen to try out the bar as it looked really nice.

One evening before dinner we stopped by to sample some of their cocktails. The bar man was incredibly friendly and service was with a smile, though he did give me a lecture at one stage!

Alex had possibly the best martini he has ever had….and he has had a few over the years. I had a vodka and lime concoction which was also good.

The comfy leather seats were a great place to relax and chat about the days events. If we didn't already have dinner reservations that night I think we would have stayed and just had martini's for dinner....is that wrong?!

Dress Code: No official dresscode, but smart casual or better