‘Meet The Locals’ Archives
SAND journal
Tam Eastley chats to Becky Crook, co-founder of Berlin literary journal, SAND... California native Becky Crook moved to Berlin from Seattle in October 2008. With a background in Linguistics, European Studies, and Theology, and a first-time novelist herself, she was disappointed to discover upon arriving in Berlin that the city's previous literary magazine, Bordercrossings, had shut down. In response, she teamed up with co-founder Jason Andrews to create SAND, Berlin's English Literary [...]
Hidden Path [Street Art Tour]
![Hidden Path [Street Art Tour]](http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/PICT0300_neu-300x199.jpg "Hidden Path [Street Art Tour]")
Grashina Gabelmann takes an alternative street art tour through Berlin's Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain... There are lots of tours on offer in Berlin that describe themselves as alternative and promise to take you on the “path less trodden” -- but something about The Hidden Path's beautiful website, with its hand drawn elements, made its declaration seem more authentic. The starting point of the tour was in front of 'Casino 36', a grimy and dodgy looking building covered in graffiti [...]
Givebox
Dougal Squires talks to the founder of Givebox in Berlin, a simple yet wonderful concept based on the idea of "caring and sharing"... Andy is a friendly, confident man, and particularly enthusiastic about the Givebox that he has founded here in Berlin. He wants to remain anonymous - hence the lack of surname - which poses a problem for me, as he was to be the central part of my interview. But what has gone relatively unreported through the numerous articles about the Givebox over the [...]
Hidden Europe’s Guide to Lichterfelde
Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries, editors of the excellent Berlin-based Hidden Europe magazine, profile their much-neglected suburb... Prosaic places are so often the most interesting spots. And the Berlin suburb of Lichterfelde ranks as decidedly prosaic. None of the main English-language guidebooks to Berlin so much as mentions the suburb where we live and work. Tourists do not flock to Lichterfelde to see the great sights of a community that, fifty years ago this summer, awoke on a [...]
Biblioteca Culinaria
Peggy Schatz drops into Berlin's new place for cookbook collectors and enthusiasts - the Bibliotheca Culinaria (Culinary Library). By definition, Bibliotheca Culinaria is a second-hand bookshop specialising in cookbooks. But if one reads between the lines -- or has a chinwag with the owners, Swen Kernemann-Mohr and Johannes Mohr -- it becomes clear that Bibliotheca Culinaria is much more. For 30 years these men from the Rheinland, who previously ran a flourishing florist, indulged [...]
Putting the Bee in Berlin
Raising bees on rooftops and in small gardens has become increasingly popular in Berlin, as urban beekeepers find they can reconnect with nature and maybe even make a profit. Christian Schwägerl reports... From the flat roof of a brick building in Berlin‘s Kreuzberg district, the German capital looks like a concrete jungle. Apartment blocks, churches, and office buildings dominate the panorama. But Erika Mayr thinks this spot is the ideal habitat for her seven bee colonies. “My bees [...]
Weinstein
Molly Hannon visits Weinstein, one of Prenzlauer Berg's best, yet most understated restaurants... Upon entering Weinschenke Weinstein, you immediately sense that this is not your average German bistro or chi chi Prenzlauer Berg dive. It exudes the air of a restaurant that is fine and feathered with wine barrels and old vintages bottles lining the wall paired with simple wooden tables and furnishings. There is nothing fancy or intimidating about this establishment - in fact, it [...]
City Lit: The Beauty of Transgression
The Beauty of Transgression is a vivid remembrance of Berlin’s gritty, loud last decades of the 20th century, and a meditation on where the city’s unique sensibility is headed. Danielle de Picciotto’s Berlin memoir begins with her arrival in the divided city in 1987, though its story follows threads back into her and her family’s past as well as the dark, glittering history of the German metropolis itself. Artist, musician, filmmaker, curator, co-founder of the Love Parade and more, [...]
English Theatre Berlin
Brid Arnstein chats to Günther Grosser, founder and Creative Director of the English Theatre Berlin In 1990 the English Theatre Berlin was founded under the name Friends of Italian Opera. Initially performing plays in many languages, from 1993 the theatre differentiated itself as Berlin’s only English-language theatre. Emerging from a new cultural atmosphere in the light of expatriation, the theatre’s aim is to explore the creative tendencies of international theatre. Housed in an [...]
Hüttenpalast: Cabin Fever
Leisha Jones checks out one of the city's most innovative accommodation projects - the Hüttenpalast. Passing through the leafy courtyard out the back of an unassuming Neükolln café, the exterior of this1910 vacuum cleaner factory belies the whimsy that awaits behind its doors. Inside, the hushed air and low glow of fairy lights evoke the feeling of entering a clandestine clubhouse. You feel as though you have stumbled upon a place where you should talk in a whisper, or where you [...]
