Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) -- As the red residue of the Berlin Wall slowly subsides into the 21st century, a new Berlin is emerging. Former East Berlin is where it's at: from avant garde art, music and cinema to hip nightlife and cutting-edge fashion and design. East Berlin is the place to go and the place to shop. It's down with the Wall and up with the mall, so to speak. Advertisement The districts of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain are defining the new Berlin. Mitte is the new heart of city; it is its historic core, which includes the best museums; it is where the trendy cafes, boutiques and bars are, and it is where the tourists now flock. Prenzlauer Berg is a 19th-century neighborhood that adds new meaning to dilapidated chic. Currently under mass renovation, it is a burgeoning 'hood for creative hipsters, from artists setting up galleries to startup IT techies to techno DJs. Advertisement Friedrichshain still retains an alluring edge of Cold War kitsch. Just check out Karl-Marx-Allee; while one can imagine how depressing this monolithic slice of Moscow must have been under the Communists, it now offers a fascinating time-capsule-like glimpse of the not so distant past. Fashion Mitte is clearly consumer central for 21st-century Berlin. If your time is limited, hit Neue Schoenhauser Strasse first. The street of the moment in Berlin, some of the hippest shops line its stretch through Mitte. The one-stop jet-setting hipster's pit stop is Apartment & Schuh City, an all-in-one-shop that sells fashion-foward streetwear and futuristic trainers and accessories from local and European cutting edge designers. Attached to Melting Pot DJ shop, Flex is a good place to pick up the latest lines from the likes of Helmut Lang and homegrown streetwear label Sabotage. Respectwomen opened one year ago and now stocks a visionary selection of top Euro talent from the likes of Ika Fiedler. Respectmen is located across the street. In the Hackescher Markt, Scandalo is a good place to buy a pair of smart-yet-edgy dress shoes. Tagebau is a chic collective of six local designers who create everything from fashion to furniture in this workshop-style store. Advertisement Local scenester streetwear purveyors like Hotel and Superstore carry Frietag-like messenger bags by Milk Berlin. Made from recycled rubber products; like the Swiss Freitags, which are the current rage from New York to Brussels to Vienna, the Milk bags should some day reach cult status elsewhere among global underground fashion junkies. Essenbeck stocks a cutting-edge array of obscure labels from underground fashion meisters, while Quartier 206 is a hip hotbed of fashion talent from the likes of Miu Miu and also sells furniture and accessories. Soma supplies an urbane blend of top local designers with hipster streetwear labels such as Miss Sixty and Diesel, and loops a sampling of choice second-hand threads into the mix. Tenderloin is a great stop-off for one-of-a-kind items with a retro twist, from hard-to-find Euro labels, to housewares. As Kastanienallee asserts itself as the Ku'damm of the East, Prenzlauer Berg is emerging as a hipster hangout for streetsmart fashionistas. Coration, the up-and-coming Berlin menswear label exploding throughout Europe has a new shop here. The Betty Bund Store, too, has its own label which is developing a cult following among urban chic dressers. Schuhkontor is the ultimate shoe shop, where two shoe designers are on hand to custom craft your latest whim while you try on the ample supply of the latest fashion forward footwear. Advertisement Design Authentics galerie and shop is like the Muji of Berlin, debuting utilitarian chic homeware designs at affordable prices. Schoenhauser has its finger on the pulse with retro chic designs. In this shop you will find a modernist mesh between GDR kitsch and funky futura. If you're in the market for Euro furniture design, check out Moebel Horzon for some unique pieces to spice up your pad back in the States. DJ Shops The home of the now-famous Love Parade has always been at the cusp of the next wave of DJ electronica. Some of the best DJ shops can be found in Prenzlauer Berg. Club Sound is the main purveyor of trance, while D-Fens Records carries various genres, from house to trance, techno and electro. It also stocks Berlin labels such as BCC and Formaldahyde. Das Drehmoment sells the latest dance floor fillers and electro classics on both vinyl and CD. Tonhalle stocks a little techno and some good stuff from other genres, while Tonikum Recordstore carries breakbeat and hip hop. Mitte also has some DJ shops worth a listen. DNS is the best running in former East Berlin for commercial tracks, especially techno, in addition to hard-to-find classics. Melting Pot stocks a decent cut of the latest deep, funky and jazzy house tunes. Advertisement In Friedrichshain, Freizeitglauben is worth checking out. Stocking a choice selection of techno and house tunes, it has a nod toward German underground labels. Rave Age has recently relocated to Friedrichshain and houses a huge selection of the latest tracks from all genres. Old School Relics Communist kitsch items from the GDR era are hot items in 21st-century Berlin. These red relics from the not-so-distant past can be found at Intershop 2000, where purveyor Elke Matz has been procuring and rescuing nostalgic items from the trashbins of history. Her shop in Friedrichshain is like a museum and worth a look. Mitropa espresso cups from GDR trains are a choice retro chic acquisition. For other mid-century retro-luring memorabilia, check out the flea market on Boxhagenerplatz in Friedrichshain (U5 Samariterstrasse) on Sundays starting at 8 a.m. Waahnsinn Berlin is the place to pick up choice vintage furniture designs, clothing and accessories from the 1950s to 70s and V.U.P. is a treasure trove of vintage clothing dating back to the 1950s. Older antiques can be found in Mitte at the Berliner Antik & Flohmarkt beneath the S-Bahn tracks, not too far from the Pergamon Museum. For vintage fashion in a 19th-century setting, go to Falbala near Kathe Kollwitz Square in Prenzlauer Berg, where one can score retro-chic finds amidst this treasure trove of second hand shops. Advertisement ROOTLESS COSMOPOLITAN GUIDE TO BERLIN SHOPPING Country Code: 49 City Code: 30 Shop Listings Old School Relics Mitte Berliner Antik & Flohmarkt Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse S-Bahnbogen 190-203 Waahnsinn Berlin Rosenthaler Strasse 17 Prenzlauer Berg Falbala (U-Bahn Senefelderplatz) Knaackstrasse 43 Friedrichshain Intershop 2000 (U-Bhf Warschauer Strasse, Bus 142) Oberbaum City Ehrenbergstrasse 3-7 171-495-63-72 V.U.P. Friedrichshain Niederbarnimstrasse 13 Design Mitte Authentics Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 19 authentics-shop.com Moebel Horzon Torstrasse 68 Schoenhauser Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 18 www.schoenhauser-design.de DJ Shops Mitte DNS Alte Schoenhauser Strasse 39-40 247-9835 Melting Pot Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 2 283-4836 Prenzlauer Berg Club Sound (U2 Eberswalder Strasse) Eberswalderstrasse 32 D-Fens Records (U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz) Greifswalderstrasse 224 4434-2250 Das Drehmoment (U2 Eberswalder Strasse) Lychener Strasse 23 4737-4707 Tonhalle (U2 Eberswalder Strasse) 4404-7599 Tonikum Recordstore Pappelallee 84 Friedrichshain Freizeitglauben (U5 Frankfurter Tor) Boxhagener Strasse 10 Rave Age Mainzerstrasse 5 612-3095 Fashion Mitte Apartment & Schuh City Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 3-5 apartment.de Essenbeck Auguststrasse 72 2838-8725 Flex Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 2 Hotel Oranienburger Strasse 8 Quartier 206 Friedrichstrasse 71 Respectwomen Neue Schoenhauserstrasse 6 Scandalo Hackescher Markt Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 16 Soma Alte Schoenhauser Strasse 27 www.soma-clothing.de Superstore Alte Schoenhauser Strasse 41 Tagebau Hackescher Markt Rosenthaler Strasse 19 Tenderloin Alte Schoenhauser Strasse 30 Advertisement Prenzlauer Berg Betty Bund Store Oderberger Strasse 6 Coration Kastanienallee 10 www.coration.de Schukontor Rykestrasse 48 Questions/Comments, contact: [email protected]
