Known to Berlin’s residents as the Ku’damm for short, the Kurfürstendamm is the most important traffic artery in the west part of the city. Measuring a length of 3.5 kilometers, the wide, cosmopolitan thoroughfare, with its two lanes on both sides and a tree-lined center promenade, stretches through Charlottenburg. It was Bismarck who dreamed of this type of splendorous boulevard with fine stores and upper-middle class residential buildings in the style of the Champs-Elysées in Paris, as he, end of the 19th century, commissioned the extension of the somewhat old fashioned Knüppeldamm between the Hohenzollern-Residenz in the heart of the city and the courtly hunting lodge in Grunewald. The new houses were grand residences in which stores were set up in their groundfloor. On the corner of Wieland or Leibnitzstrasse you can still see the kind of majesty that defined the prestige required by its residents.

As a matter of fact, the street corners were planned with an almost extravagant pleasure. A good example of this is the “Idunahaus” with its fashionable tower construction on the corner of Uhlandstrasse. In general, here and in the side streets you can still feel the refined, upper-class lifestyle of earlier times. This is thanks to, not least of all, the flagship stores of almost all international fashion brands that, together with elegant restaurants, line the way in the section between Olivaer Platz and Joachimstahler Strasse.

The crowning achievement, however, is Fasanenstrasse. Here are not only the most expensive stores and galleries, but also posh manors from the late 19th century, including the legendary Grisebach Villa. Named after the architect Hans Grisebach, it houses today Berlin’s most well- established gallery, the Galerie Pels- Leusden, and the well-known auction house Villa Grisebach. Both provide important impulses for Berlin’s cultural life: along with classical modern and Berlin artists, such Corinth, Kollwitz and Zille, young Berlin sculptors and painters are also especially fostered. The Pels-Leusden collection also generated the Käthe Kollwitz museum, which displays its treasures in the adjacent house. A small sculpture park leads you to a true oasis in the middle of the  big-city hectic: the Literaturhaus (literature house) with its Cafe Wintergarten. This beautiful villa is set a bit back from the street, directly bordering on an idyllic garden. With a bit of luck you might catch one of the regular author’s readings. In any case, the café is certainly worth a visit. With its high, old-fashioned rooms and its roofed-over loggia, it has the flair of a Viennese coffee house – you can sit over a cup of coffee and bury yourself in one of the many newspapers that are lying around for your reading pleasure.

THEATER & COMEDY ON THE KU’DAMM

Theater & Comedy on the Ku’damm During the 1920’s, they were part of Max Reinhardt’s theater mpire, today both theatres feature primarily light entertainment: most recently the Comedian Harmonists, whose songs “Veronika, der Lenz ist da” and “Jetzt oder nie” have enjoyed great popularity. Unforgettable faces from the past on both stages: Berlin’s favorite Harald Juhnke, Inge Meysel, Johannes Heesters, Nadja Tiller, Curd Jürgens.