Potsdamer Platz

I didn't want to leave Berlin without a visit to Potsdamer Platz. Today it's just another huge city intersection-- but the history!

By the 1920's and 30's Potsdamer Platz was the busiest traffic center in all of Europe. The first electric street lights in Germany had been installed here in 1882, and in 1924 came Germany's first traffic lights.

Imagine a complex with the world's largest restaurant – the 2,500-seat Café Piccadilly – plus a 1,200-seat theatre, and eight themed restaurants with cuisine from around the world. All were served from a central kitchen containing the largest gas-fueled cooking plant in Europe

How about a store with a granite and plate glass facade longer than a football field-- with 83 elevators and 1,000 telephones, a summer, winter, and roof garden, an enormous restaurant, its own laundry, theatre and concert booking office, a bank, and a large fleet of private delivery vehicles.

You'd have found those, along with huge hotels, and dozens of nightclubs (hello Sally Bowles) right here.

The square was mostly destroyed in WWII, and after it straddled Western and Soviet controlled Berlin. Eventually, in 1961, the Berlin Wall was built right through it-- and you can see a bit of what remains in the photo.

If you're interested, there's a ton more info online. Just the little bit I read makes me wish I had a time machine, so I could see it at it's peak.Read more