ARRATIA BEER

"On the face of it Potsdamer Strasse is just a nondescript stretch extending from Potsdamer Platz to Schöneberg but it has been Berlin's main art-world drag since the turn of the decade. The first galleries here snuck into upper-storey spaces or exhibition halls in rear courtyards. Shop fronts remained decidedly mundane - read car mechanics and sex shops - for years before the street's artsy underbelly became visible. This isn't the first time the neighbourhood has been the centre of an artistic boom. In the 1920s, a collection of galleries displaying art, antiques and Asiatica were to be found in the elegant prewar buildings. But the Nazi period brought an end to much of the art trade and until recently only a couple of venues have been bold enough to set up here. Today the Potsdamer Strasse art community continues to grow, with many of the city's blue-chip galleries occupying jaw-dropping spaces, such as Der Tagesspiegel newspaper's former printing press, located in the courtyards of No 77-87. Smaller galleries dot the street, as well as adjacent Schöneberger Ufer, Lützowstrasse and Kurfürstenstrasse, with more slated to join them. Restaurants, cafés and upscale retail have finally mixed in with the streetscape too. Berlin's galleries have at last found a long-term art district to call home, and it's one with a history."