The City Subsidiary
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is a center of Berlin that has a long cultural and gastronomic tradition. Over 300 years ago, as the Charlottenburg palace was being built, the court culture was already moving into what had been up till then a village setting.

100 years ago, the new cultural scene downright exploded in Berlin's Westside. The Berlin modern art colony created scandals here with the works of Liebermann to Picasso. Cabarets, revue theatres, film palaces and concert halls were built, and the Schiller theater, Theater des Westens and the Renaissance theatre were founded. Innumerable dance halls, restaurants and cafés emerged. Writers, filmmakers, artists and their patrons met in the cafés.

He who wanted to be on top of the times moved to Berlin's Westside. The Kurfürstendamm became the synonym for fashionable and drew visitors like magic from all over the world. That all began around 1900 and reached its peak in the legendary 'roaring twenties' of the twentieth century.

Thomas Wolfe called Berlin's Westside " Europe's biggest coffee house."

The newspapers wrote of "Berlin W" or "the City Subsidiary" when referring to the area around Kurfürstendamm.

Back then Berlin had two centers: the historical downtown and the new one in the west. During the time of the Wall, these two centers developed to a great extent independently of each other. Now we are concerned with finding a good balance between the pulsing cities in the east and west; and are happy that east and west in Berlin are again geographical and not political terms.

Even though the spotlight is often now on Potsdamer Platz, the Brandenburg gate or the Hackesch market, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf still has a wealth of attractions to offer. I invite you to discover our district. Stroll through the side streets off the Kurfürstendamm and beyond. There's a lot to discover: from Grunewald and Jungfernheide, to the Olympic stadium, Teufelsberg and Charlottenburg palace. I know you'll enjoy it.