Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
City West
Long before the term
City West
was coined for the old centre of West Berlin, its main
role was as a shopping district, particularly along
Kurfürstendamm
(universally called
Ku'damm
). Even in the grim first few years after the war, a few retailers managed to
struggle on here, but it was with the coming of the Berlin Wall that the area got a real
boost. With Berlin's true centre snatched away by the GDR, this area quickly became
an awkward surrogate. Large amounts of modern building work aimed to transform
City West into the heart of a great late twentieth-century metropolis, but the work was
largely in vain. Once the Wall came down the city hastily shifted back to its previous
centre, abandoning West Berlin's old centre to years in the doldrums. Lately, however,
its iconic avenues have been reborn, home to couture boutiques and high-street shops.
6
Bahnhof Zoo
Squeezed between a couple of scruffy shopping precincts and surrounded by third-rate
modern architecture,
Bahnhof Zoo
is the district's shabby main transport hub. Pulling
in here still somehow conjures up images of prewar steam trains, but that's as far as the
nostalgia goes: the station is comparatively small, with no large lobby or grand portico,
and its many entrances mostly harbour a retinue of urban casualties. At least a recent
makeover and the presence of a few glossy and late-opening stores have helped smarten
the station up a little; it's certainly a far cry from the days, just a couple of decades ago,
when it was the haunt of heroin dealers and child prostitutes.
Museum für Fotografie
Jebenesstr. 2 • Tues-Sun 10am-6pm • €10, or €12 with a Bereichskarte (see p.23) •
T
030 266 42 42 42,
W
smb.museum • U- &
S-Bahnhof Zoo
Behind Bahnhof Zoo, and best reached through its back door, is another of Berlin's
excellent municipal museums, the
Museum für Fotografie
. he home of the
Helmut
Newton Foundation
, it exhibits the work of this world-famous photographer and also
sometimes has temporary exhibitions of lesser-known photographers on its upper floors.
he collection, Newton's gift to his home city shortly before his untimely death in
2004, is divided into two. he ground floor is a museum to the man himself, including
a reconstruction of his quirky Monaco o
ce and his oversized made-to-measure beach
buggy - complete with monogram on the steering wheel, no doubt perfect for cruising
around Monte Carlo. Most interesting among the rest of the memorabilia is his camera
collection, which spans several decades. he upper floors exhibit Newton's work in
regularly changing exhibits, displaying his unique and heavily stylized portrait, glamour
and nude photography, his celebrity portraiture and penchant for Amazonian women.
Some of the most intriguing pieces are from his personal collection of unpublished
photos. Both Newton and his wife (who worked under the pseudonym Alice Springs)
seem always to have had cameras to hand to chart every aspect of their life together
and obsess over each other's naked forms. he images from Newton's deathbed are
particularly stark. he ground-floor photography
shop
is exceptional, with a coverage
that goes well beyond Newton, and with many topics at reduced prices.
CITY WEST PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERIES
If you've enjoyed City West's
Museum für Fotografie
(see above) make sure to stop by the
following excellent galleries, both of which are in the same neighbourhood.
Camera Work
Kantstr. 149
T
030 310 07 73,
W
camerawork.de; U-Uhlandstrasse.
Just a short
walk away from the main photography museum, with
a variety of exhibitions (see p.217).
C/O Berlin
T
030 28 44 41 60,
W
co-berlin.com.
This superb photographic gallery hosts world-class avant-
garde temporary exhibitions (usually around €8). At the
time of going to press it was on the move to the Amerika
Haus, Hardenbergstr. 22-24 (U-Augsburger Strasse)
where it is due to reopen in 2014.
