Monthly Archives: January 2014

RED CARPET … HENRIK’S WORLD

  • Papparazzi! Fashionistas! Bloggers! Film stars! Heino Ferch! Swoon! Unknown D-list German celebrities from soap operas that the paps snapped furiously, as if they were Brad and Angelina! No sign of Kate Moss but models from Germany Top Model who came 10th careening down the catwalk! I must be at Mercedes Berlin Fashion Week. I got hold of a couple of tickets last minute and pimped myself up for the Schumacher, Holy Ghost and Ewa Herzog runway shows. Afterwards in the VIP sponsors lounge, the luxurious hotel Intercontinental laid on champagne and delicious canapés. I caught up with Britt Kanja, a Berlin legend who founded the club 90 Grad together with Bob Young in a car repair shop back in 1990’s, where the doorman refused Britney Spears entry at the door. Also in attendance was my friend Rolf Scheider who was on the jury in Heidi Klum´s show Germany’s Top Model. He always cuts a fashionable figure. Next time, I would like to see him walking in killer heels on the catwalk!
  • Word had it that Katy Perry was looking for a date to go partying with after performing on The Voice Germany. Of course, I was on hand in her five star luxury hotel on standby ready to paint the town red. Two bottle of champagne later, we found out she had suddenly flown out of town. Anyway, who needs a celebrity to cramp their style and jump the queue at Berghain, when I’m the regular? Okay next time, Katy!
  • It was West Berlin’s big moment, the red carpet for the relaunch of the Zoopalast cinema in Charlottenberg. It opened in 1953, as the original Berlinale cinema and over the last two years has been completely refurbished with state-of-the-art light and sound systems. There were 800 selected VIP’s guests, the champagne flowed as did the live performances, comedy acts and a special movie screening. In the spotlight were actor Matthias Schweighöfer and Berlin´s major Klaus Wowereit but the guest of honour was Swiss movie star Liselotte Pulver, who became internationally known in 1961 in Billy Wilder’s comedy One, Two, Three. I can’t wait for Berlinale in February.
  • Happy birthday to one of Berlin’s favourite restaurants Mani who celebrated their two year birthday in fine style with delicious food and a tonne of booze!
  • I partied with literary types and too-cool-for-school glasses wearing hipster nerds at the launch party of Where Magazine in the club 40 Seconds. I love a pair of hipster glasses, so I fitted right in!

See you next month!

BERLINAGENTEN ON TOUR WITH EDELMAN PR, NEW YORK.

“In a world filled with war, the greatest weapon is love. Make love, not war with new AXE Peace.” This extraordinary Axe commercial has already had three and half million views on You Tube and Berlinagenten kicked the campaign off in Berlin!

Make love, not war – it’s an adage that Berlin lives by. It is also the tag line from Peace, a welcome addition to the world’s leading deodorant, Axe. So for the worldwide media launch of the brand, Unilever and the world’s biggest PR agency Edelman, naturally choose Berlin.

CEO Henrik explains: “The clients mission was to tell the story of ‘Peace, Make love not war’. After two world wars and a city divided, Berlin embodies that peaceful vibe but with a sexy side that embodies the brand”.

Henrik, who has a degree in marketing, knows all about brand building and tailored an exclusive program for Edelman and Unilever. Twenty of New York’s top editors and journalists, five Unilever executives and four Edelmann account managers came to Berlin for 48 unforgettable hours. Although some of the group did actually loose a few hours, somewhere along the way!

The programme highlights were the five star hospitality at Soho House; showcasing four of Berlin’s finest restaurants; a graffiti workshop where participants got to find their inner Banksy and graffiti a wall before being given high heeled stilettos to smash it down; models dressed in military outfits to show the guests around Berlin in jeeps; VIP treatment as they jumped queues at Blitz @ club Cookies and the uber trendy Pearl nightclub; a truly exclusive performance by Salon K, who totally seduced the hardened New Yorkers with a breath taking high-art, dance and musical performance. And did we mention the copious amounts of champagne? There was copious amounts of champagne!

 

BERLIN FOR THE OVER 30’S

Berlin is renowned for its nightlife and that doesn’t just mean for the young. If you’re over 30, here’s the perfect itinerary for a wild Berlin night out. 

Start with a dinner at the former Bötzow brewery, home of La Soupe Populaire. This post-industrial restaurant is tucked away behind raw concrete, rusty pipes and iron doors but the food is amazing and and the menu is created by no less than celebrity chef Tim Raue himself. After dinner, check out the newest venue on the partying strip of Torstrasse – The Bonbon bar, which attracts a mature, stylish and international crowd. Apart from the beautiful art deco interior, don’t miss a visit to the fabulous loo.

After 1 am it´s time to move on to the next level and order the legendary medicine bottle filled with vodka at the hip Trust Bar. Once you have passed the picky door policy, step into a world that reflects the golden era of the 90’s, when the clubs were trashy-chic, retro, inspiring, wild, and very sexy! If you don´t trust your capacity to drink vodka like a Berliner at 5am, it´s time for real clubbing.

Change out of your killer heels and dress Berlin super cool grunge before you arrive to the superlative techno temple Berghain. Be prepared to wait in the queue. They may let you in, or they may not, it’s that kind of place. A Berlinagenten By Night is the best way to have access to coolest bars and clubs in the city. Then you can really live it, smell it, touch it and taste the City like a true local.

BERLINAGENTEN PROUDLY PRESENTS: BERLINAGENTEN THE WEBSITE

To celebrate ten years as Berlin’s premier lifestyle tour agency, we are proud to announce the redesign and launch of our brand new sexy website Berlinagenten. We’ve simplified the booking process, while at our tour shop, you can view our tours by choosing between three different categories: culinary, lifestyle and culture. In total, we now offer 25 different tours.

After almost two years in the making, from conception, programming, words, photo-shoots, to reworking and testing, we are thrilled with the results. Our photographers captured the pure essence of Berlin and the descriptions of the tours will wet your appetite for your Berlin trip, which you can now book directly online.

Like Berlin, Berlinagenten has been growing but we want to keep it real and super exclusive. We have an amazing team of experienced life-style guides and now we’re better connected than ever to offer you everything from the edgy, cool, underground and to the extreme high end.

Our members club and a blog are our way to saying thank you to our friends and guests, by giving them insider tips and letting them in on our fabulous personal discoveries.

Berlin and Berlinagenten have never looked so good.

 

THE SCENE MEETS DEAN.

As the area around Rosenthalerstraße in Mitte – the former centre of East Berlin -becomes ever gentrified, now comes the truly metropolitan Dean, a new bar/club concept. In its last incarnation, the venue held the iconic yet trashy bar Delicious Donuts for 20 years. Not that you know where Dean resides like the hippest of Berlin is a very private unless you’re in the know.

There is no sign, shouting ‘Hey! Over here, it’s Dean! The only clues are the vintage prints featuring celebrities from the sixties in the window and a nameless black door. But once inside, it’s so glam and cuts the perfect balance between light and dark. The long narrow all black marble bar, black stone floor and dark gray velvet upholstered bunkettes and seats, and the dance floor are all bathed in honey golden light. The image of Berlin’s beautiful people partying is reflected in the ceiling above on a single shiny gold mirror.

The_Scene_WS_2_Januar2014The_Scene_WS_4_Januar2014

Dean is the brainchild of those purveyors of minimalist, simple, elegant style, The Amano Group, whose Amano hotel sits directly across the road whilst the hotel and restaurant “Mani” is around the corner on Torstraße. Amano bring a new sensibility that Berlin is currently embracing, namely, high-end glamour. That meansthat this isn’t a techno club baby! Berlin DJ San Gabriel is in charge of the booking of international bands and DJ and programmes a soul-funk-house infused mix. But what Dean is really about is the drinks. Award winning bar manager’s Tino Hiller and Philip Bischoff know how to mix to perfect cocktails. We’re always suckers for their Moscow Mules. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dean!

To find Dean and the very best of Berlin’s nightlife, book a Berlinagenten Berlin by Night tour and we guarantee it will be a night you’ll never forget!

Photos: Stjepan Sedlar

THE WORLD’S HOTTEST DESTINATIONS

As much as we love Berlin, Berlinagenten takes our job as global cool hunters very seriously and that involves lots of travelling. For our clients, it’s imperative that we share our global know-how and be on the pulse of the newest concepts in the hospitality, city development, luxury travel and restaurants, bar and nightclubs, so we can present Berlin at its world beating best.

Last year, Henrik visited hectic Chennai & the remote Andaman Islands (India), celeb-packed St Tropez, emerging Marseille – the European Capital of Culture, gourmet jungle of Tokyo, undiscovered Ishigaki Island (the “Hawaii” of Japan), Blade-Runner-like Hong Kong, gambler´s paradise Macau, Con Dao Island (The Sixth Sense resort!) – “Île du Diable” of Asia, face-lifted Hồ Chí Minh city, über expensive Zürich, jetsetter´s Croatia (Korčula Town, Hvar & Dubrovnik), unplugged Puglia (Bari, Lecce, Gallipoli, Santa Cesarea Therme), Visby – the “Dubrovnik of Scandinavia” (on Swedish island Gotland), luxury pub crawling London (4 Soho Houses in 2 days!), shoemaking Mallorca and  Sopot – the „Monte Carlo“ of the Baltic sea (Polen).

Naturally, we do this all in the name of research, inspiration and cultural education! We also facilitate tours and programmes in our favourite cities around the globe. Let us know if we can help you when it comes the best in global destinations.

 

MEET LOLLIE BARR AS SHE MEETS HERSELF! DEEP!

Your Berlinagenten blogger Lollie Barr meets the author/journalist/cabaret artist/Berlinagenten guide Lollie Barr in a weird space-time continuum, where she talks to herself in the third person. Yep, Berlin makes you that crazy!

LB: So, how did you end up in Berlin?

LB: I came to write a story for marie claire called ‘48 hours in Berlin’, four years on, I’m still here. Fortunately for me, the first person I met was Henrik, who is contracted by Visit Berlin to show journalists the hip side of the city. He took me on an Urban LifeStyle Tour around Prenzlauer Berg and sold me the city in three hours. Henrik mapped out every hot spot and neighbourhood going. I’m still discovering them. That’s what I love about Berlin, it’s fabulous, city-wide.

LB: And now you’re a Berlinagenten guide yourself?

LB: After seven travel articles and many nights out, Henrik thought I had earned my Berlin stripes. I was ready to be unleashed on the friendly tourists as a lifestyle guide. I adore it. Our clients are always so interesting and interested to know what’s going on beneath the surface of Berlin. My favourite tours are the Gastro Rallyes because I’m a dedicated foodie.

LB: What’s your favourite place in Berlin?

I’m in love with Liquidrom the super cool sauna and spa in Kreuzberg. There’s a huge warm salt-water pool, where you float about as music comes from beneath the water. If you’re visiting on your birthday, it’s free! Just remember to bring some ID for verification.

LB: What the hell is going on with that photo? Is that you?

LB: Oh her? That’s Fifi La Muff, my French sex kitten alter ego, who is occasionally let out of her box to perform cabaret. I can often be found playing guitar and singing in my local bar The Marquee on Brunnenstrasse.

LB: Any other talents we should know about?

LB: Apart being able to bend back my fingers like a Balinese dancer?

LB: Impressive but yes.

LB: I write novels mainly. I have one published The Mag Hags, one due out on the 1st of April  and The Nine Months Three Weeks & Five Days that I was Famous’, is out in July.

LB: You’re busy then.

LB: Yes, better get back to blogging. Nice to meet you.

LB: You’re mad, I am you.

LB: Now you’re really confusing me!

Photo by Katrina James.