The Legal Battle Over Culture

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That's alienware d. com slash deals This episode of Search Engine is brought you in part by DB Journey If you've been looking to elevate your travel game, you've probably heard about the Scandinavian brand completely disrupting the industry right now. DB journey They've been the go to for sleek backpacks for years, but they just dropped their new Ramirk alu line, and it's a total game changer. 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And then after five days, I have a hundred ideas for searched episodes I want to make and I start itching to get back to work But anyway, Let's talk about you In our month awayay, we have some treats for you. We're gonna to re air one of our favorite stories when we've never reaired before, and we're gonna share some episodes you have probably never heard from our locked vault, our premium feed in cognito mode So stick around for that this month, and we will be back with brand new episodes for you in August The particular episode that we're sharing this week is one of my very favorite stories It's the first of a two part story we reported about a very exclusive techno nightclub in Berlin The story has actually been Optioned for film by Bon Yang and Matt Rogers, who are both very funny comedians and also podcastters themselves. They host the beloved show Lost Culturistas Boone and Matt are writing a movie based on the story you're about to hear to enjoy I hope at least some of you are listening with Sandy headphones somewhere. I'm not supposed to pick favorite questions. I claim to love all questions equally But about a year ago, I got a question from two friends of mine This question caused a rare amount of delight over at search engine HQ So we asked the two of them to come to the studio Um, okay, okay Do you guys want to introduce yourself I'm Chris. I'm Dan. I guess'm Chris and Dan, two very successful stylish young professionals They had an annual tradition going back years These two friends would vacation together Sometimes to exciting nightlife destinations like Berlin, the city they'd just returned from And what's like the nature of these vacations? Like what is your form of relaxing I would say our form of relaxing is generally not relaxing It's like partying. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, respectful, healthy, wholesome Yes. Okay. And so This was your second trip to Berlin to do respectful of whom I'm not sure wholes was last thing healthy? Respectful, wholesome and healthy partying.. So You guys, these are a lot of like daybreaker parties where you drink water and like do yoga afterwards or whatever. drreink. Exactly That's the vbe. Chris and Dan, I should tell you. more conscientious and buttoned up than most people I know Chris who I've known much longer He's the kind of person where When I invite him to a party, I can set my watch to what happens. He and his boyfriend show up exactly on time, bearing a thoughtful gift And then Chris sneaks out the front door two hours later or half an hour before midnight, whichever comes first not a person given to unplanned improvised fun. So I was actually surprised Flurn he'd been drawn to burlet. A city that tends to attract my more late night degenerate friends So you're going to Berlin and like, how many days were you going for I think it was like seventy two hours in Berlin. Yeah, it was a really short trip And what was the itinerary? There was a very unstructured itinerary which consisted of Absolutely nothing But we knew what the crown jewel the trip was supposed to be. Yes keyword's supposed to be. and that was Berkhein. And why Burghein I guess it has this mythical status attached to it, which is No one can get in or very few people can get in. But once you're in, it's like this mystical palace of fun and amazing music and God knows what else because Neither of us have ever been in sence. B H At the time of our conversation, rumors about Burghein had certainly reached me four thousand miles away in Brooklyn I'd heard the basics. A decommissioned power plant turned into a multi story nightclub People talked about this place as a kind of grimy heaven And like traditional heaven Grimy heaven was also supposedly very hard to get into It operated according to its own particular value system. Burghein selectively welcomed freaks, Rejects, the different This was the place where my friends had wanted to go. And I think part of the whole allure of the venue is because they reject so many people. Yeah. they have rejected so many famous people from actors and celebrities to the Elon Musks of the world. And so it would be one thing if, you know, we're not a list celebrities. So of course we're not getting into this club but even The top of the top of society, the top of the top of the business world Even they are not getting into this club. Yeah It's Svage I should say Acording to Yon Musk Elon Musk was not rejected from Berghein. In twenty twenty two, amidst a bunch of internet chatter about how he'd not gotten in. He posted on Twitter that it was he who'd rejected the club. He said He'd refused to enter Okay. Chris and Dan The recent attempt was not their first try Also gone in twenty seventeen Back then they' done the same thing. G gone to Berlin headed to Berghein, waited in the line and ultimately been told Nine This time around They were older, they were wiser, and they had at least one new advantage thriving corner of the internet devoted to Berghein Door policy Reonnaissance. There are Reddit forms Subrededdits completely dedicated to this. There are TikToks dedicated to this in English Yeah And every language. We were kind of looking back on the last time that we went and we werere like, what did we do wrong? And I think The last time we went, we were so ignorant to any of these rules. We showed up in like black American apparel t shirts and thought that would be adequate for the dress code. Yeah, yeah, okay, but that's not adequate. Yeah, no, totally, Wofully inadequate. So now, five years later, when Chris and Dan arrived once again in Berlin, They knew they would have to take things more seriously We had a shopping module one day where we went to Kitzburg and which is like their sort of like funky neighborhood with all their vintage stores. We were like, we are going to dress like freaks Athletic shorts, tank tops, harnesses. Yeah. It's definitely a look. The outfits they decide on. For Dan, a black tank top and short shorts, length somewhere between eighties camp counselor and nineties basketball player, black shoes and tube socks. For Chris, black skinny jeans, no shirts, and this black vest that kind of looked like a tuxedo vest With our outfits ready and mindset prepared They head to the Birkheim line for their Saturday attempt There's this aerir through today of like, we're gonna cinch this Like it felt that way to me. If it was gonna be any moment, it was gonna be that day. Got it. Okay, so tell me about the line. So it's always a fixture. Like you show up, it's very, very long. Three to four hours. Are you talking? a little bit From the back of the line, they could see the club, the former power plant looming over the horizon. It was dark except for flashes of light and silhouettes through the top windows. Very faintly, it emitted the throb of base. As they stood there waiting, people would walk past them, peopleople who'd already been rejected, glummly leaving. Chris said the sight of these people would actually inspire hope in him. When a bunch of people in front of you get rejected, you feel kind of optimistic because you're like, well, they're not gonna to reject everyone. You know. Just statistically, we're probably in luck Way, way, way up ahead at the front of the line to the bouncers. A few of these bouncers, specially deputized decide who got into the club. Those are called selectors Those were the people sending rejects back out into the night So how soon Can they see you? You know, that's up for debate Oh Some people might say they're kind of watching you the entire time There's is Santa Claus logic. There's no way they're watching it the entire time. No, but people do come back. You see people that are like kind of like strolling the line. Uh. And then you see them again at the door. That happened at least once. Oh, so Santa Claus is watching you. Yeah. But but for the I mean, I assumed or I felt like For the most part, you weren't really scrutinized until you were within like twenty to thirty people of the door. Okay. And then they're on a pedestal They're on literal pedestal. They're on a literal pestal and And they're looking out and you could feel their eyes on you. Okay. And so how what was your strategy for how to behave in the line? The conventional wisdom is to be just stone faced No, we tried that We also tried the approach of being like, let's just be normal Now, another thing that's interesting is I think that they could tell to the point of like scanning you for authenticity, like we actually are gay, which works in our favor because it retains its roots as a gay club and they're gay at the door. Oh, the bouncers are all gay. The bouncers are gay. We think W ye, They seemed to be. They seem to be After a couple hours of anxious waiting Chris and Dan found themselves close to the mouth of Berghein There's actually like a physical demarcation. So like you get to a certain point where like the line actually has a railing around it. Okay. So once you reach that point, you're like, whoa, this is game time. Then you're within like twenty people of the door you know that you're with inside of the bouncers, that's when you could hear a pin drop Everyone's just everyone's totally quiet That's so funny. And what happens when you walk up How do you do you like straighten your posture? Absolutely. yeah, okay and So you get up and then there's a number of calculations that are going on in your mind. Do the bouncer in the eye. you look kind of at the ground. Do you smile? Do you keep a straight face? Do you say anything And I think on this try, this is like our authentics friendly selves attempt And so, you know, I smiled at the guy. He asked How many people were, I said to I was friendly. I think I asked him how his night was going. Did he answer? No, of course not One of my calculations was whether or not to look like I was having fun and into the music So I kind of like was dancing a little bit. But, you know Very like minor movements. Um And I don't think that strategy works. didn't. It's hard because you're like, how do I not look desperate afterfter waiting in line for several hours to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world? It's like a witch hunt where every person in line is a witch Yeah, and you're constantly making adjustments on how to not appear to be a witch. Yeah. Yeah. So you walk up, you say like, how's your night? He says nothing. Is he just looking at you? Is it he a he? It's a he. There's Sen the main bouncer. If Berghein itself is the epitome of what you would think of East German old teechno nightclub Then Senn is the epitome of what you would think of as the bouncer, the lead bouncer for that venue. What does it look like? A large man with a large number of tattoos and piercings on his face That man is He's a unique individual Is he intimidating? He's extremely intimidating. And there's two others. Apparently there's some sort of communication between the two of them, some sort of silent communication. But it's not legible. There's only one amount of legible communication and that's the decision. And how do they communicate it to you? It's always one person they pull up at a time or a small group And sometimes they're immediately rejected. Like they don't even get to say a word the bouncer just puts his hand out and they just keep walking Very subtle. Yeah. Yeah. And they just point towards the street It's not so much a point as an open palm out the direction that you should be going. So the gesture you're doing is actually the gesture one used to be like, welcome to my home, but it's welcome to not my home Like it's it's the the arm goes out, the palms outstretched Like, look at this, you're not going to a nightclub Yeah it's like, you're welcome to go anywhere else in Berlin Christend Dan did not get the gentle wave inviting them anywhere else in Berlin. inststead They got a verbal rejection The bouncer told them Not And to the next day, Sunday They tried again They had a new plan. to go during the day done separately During the day and separately. Okay And the idea being during the day less competition, separately, the bouncer might respect you more So or is it two chances? The line was just as long, I would say, if not longer Abs during the day and Yeah, our thinking was perhaps we would attain that additional level of respect if we pretended as if we were going separately On this attempt Chris and Dan stood in line next to each other for hours and did not talk We acted like we didn't know each other And I was ahead of Chris And I get up And one of the bouncers is like, how many? and I say one and then he just stares at me and stares. And I actually thought this was the time I was getting and I was pretty confident because it was like a solid twenty seconds, I would say before I was rejected But as soon as they rejected me, they looked at Chris and immediately rejected him. Oh my go. we're pretty sure they caught us in the lie It was insane It felt like an x ray But is it the same bouncers from the night before Yeah, it actually was. actuallyctually, as we're saying this, I'm like, we're idiots. Yeah. Obviously they knew that we were yeng. Well, that would assume they remembered us out of the thousands of people who are probably trying to get in there. But of course they I can't believe we had to go on a podcast to like' like I think you saw it into my soul. Yeah. Yeah, I think we've figured out the answer. why we didn't get in and we werere just dumb If it seems silly to you that two adult men spent so much time and energy trying to get into a nightclub, If it seems sillier that this reporter would then spend a year of his life thinking about this place that those men never got to see the inside of I should tell you how I feel about night life. which is Maybe not what you would expect F nightcubs to be deeply meaningful places. Borderl Holy I know that sounds a little weird, but in New York where I live There's a handful of these quasi underground little dance spots, smoke machine shrouded dance floors, usually free to get in. where you can just lose yourself for hours dancing in a throng of strangers It's all very cory to talk about especially on a podcast But as a person who feels like a full time resident of my own mind, These are the only places where I escaped that Even sober I just feel like a body, not a brain, or not a body, just a part of a mass of them. I suspect there might be a human need to gather in a room and surrender to something. And for me, what I discovered pretty late in life is that the room should be sweaty and packed, and the surrender should be to music Bergghhein. Whatever the hype The promise was that it was the best of these rooms built by humans. An actual wonder of the world, not some relic. If somebody was going to sympathize with the plight of two Americans who had failed to pass its door It is probably going to be me. at the same time H like them also found this whole situation deeply funny. Isn't it weird that you guys went into all this trouble to be like, and I don't mean this in like Supreme Court is the word but like to just be discriminated against Yes Hm I don't think We' think we were discrimated against. I I don't want to be here and say, oh, because we're two Americans, we absolutely do what we're getting into. and it was almost going there and getting rejected was like a fun activity in and of itself. Right. It's like you're participating in the thrill. Let me put it this way. ' gone skydiving before and the level of anxiety I had justust as I was stepping up to be judged was the same level of anxiety I had just as I was about to jump out of the plane Really? ye And then what did it feel like to be rejected? Almost a relief Really You get it over with. I wish I had gotten in, but yeah And then when Chris was ejected to, I felt really good about myself. Would have been devastating. So what is like the thing you're trying to figure out about Bergard? what is the question that I can answer So there's a few things I want to know One thing is, say there are some cases where it's cuspy. and they're like, we want like on the cusp of dec On the cusp of a decision where they're like, they can't decide when you're twenty people away whether you're a yes or a no. Yeah. And they want to get a closer look, what are they scanning you for? Right. What are the cues that are gonna you know, nudge you towards getting in versus Take you to the curb. Got it. The other question that I have, every time we would leave, we would walk around the whole club I wonder if there's a way to sneak in. Like is there just like a fire excess? Yeah. L, is it permeable from any other orifice than this drawer. I mean, I expect it to be hard, to be clear. I don't think there's some easy Oh, just go in the back door. I'm just like if you jump a fence, crawling under a bush, like I'm like, is there a way? And would you do it if there were? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay, what is the bouncer at Berghein scanning you for if you're on the cusp? Is there some other, perhaps secret way to sneak into Birgheide A the break, our investigation begins This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Hexclad summer cooking season is officially here Everyone obsesses over the grill. luding me, but your indoor cookware handles a ton of the workload. And if your current skillets are constantly burning or sticking, they're holding you back I have switched to Hexcloud. It has been fantastic Honestly the thing that blew me away was finally just getting Perfect restaurant quality crust on a ribbeye without then having to spend the rest of my evening scrubbing a pan. You can use metal spatulas without scratching them, toss them right into the dishwasher, and they're oven safe up to nine hundred degrees There's a reason celebrity chefs swear by them as well as podcasters, and they come with a lifetime guarantee For a limited time only, search engine listeners get ten percent off with our exclusive link Just head to hexclad d. com slash search. Supp our show and check them out at HEXclad d. com forward slash search Make sure to to know we sent you. This is generally great cookware This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Instacart Whenever I host a last minute summer hangout, my go to move is just opening the Instagrart app. Suddenly needing ingredients or mixers or quality snacks can be stressful. But Instacart enables delivery in as fast as thirty minutes to save the day You must be twenty one plus wor alcohol are available, and please enjoy responsibly For me, I just really love the convenience that I can actually order the things I want from the stores I want with a shopper who really cares about getting the order right gives me my time back. It means that I can focus on my guests instead of running errands Instacart is designed to make life easier. taking care of delivering the things you need with the quality you deserve so you can focus on what matters most It's one less thing to worry about during a busy week Instacart brings convenience, quality, and ease right to your door, so you can focus on what matters most Download the Instart app and get groceries just how you like Welcome back to the show. Ooon Sons When we started all this last July All I really knew about Berghein that it was a Berlin technical club and that was very hard to get into But I started researching The Cub itself maintains a very minimal footprint online two hundred thousand people follow Berghein's Instagram account, but the club has only ever posted one photo in twenty fifteen picture of a sign that says in all caps Taking photos is not allowed The sign presumably from inside the club itself Berghein, L Vegas claims that what happens there stays there Except in Berghein, that seems to actually be true Some information about the club nevertheless has circulated The story of Berghein, as I now understand it begins thirty years ago. In the early nineteen nineties, two Germans Norbert Thormont and Michael Tiffila had begun hosting a men's only gay fetish party, sometimes at an abandoned air raid shelter After a few years, the party outgrew that bunker, The pair took over an abandoned railroad depot At the railroad deepot, they started a club called Ostgut Okood was legendary, open to people of all genders and sexualities but still a space run by and largely for gay men Den of hedonism where consenting adults supposedly engaged in all sorts of unusual behavior. Online, at least one video survives from inside the club The video is pretty tame It's from july two thousand. Looks like camcorder footage A grainily shot DJ hovers over a console, twiddling knobs, while nearby a crowd of German shadows writhes under a strobe light may have lived forever, except the city wanted to build a big arena. So the railroad depot was knocked down in two thousand three Bergheim Was it its reincarnation Palace that replaced Oskut this time Too big to knife down A thermal power plant, originally built during the Soviet era Four floors. On the very bottom floor, a dedicated basement gay club for men only At the very top bar with big windows opening onto a panoramic view of the city On the levels in between where the power turbinees once sat An enormous dark cavern, the main dance area The entire space governed by its own particular rules rules that are repeated breathlessly by the internet commentarium Burgine is not a standard posh club with bottle service. They make you put a sticker over your phone, no pictures, they'll th you g. There'd be a window where you could buy ice cream and you could order smoothies. It's open from Friday until Monday, and most people stay there for twelve hours, twenty four hours or more. Right now, it's nine AM. Burgghheine is best known for one weekly party Rlock Club night Club Night is a misnomer because Well the party started Saturday evening It continues all the way until Monday morning without interruption. A few books document the history of the scene that birth this party. I found Tobias raraps lost and sound to be particularly helpful. He writes about how when Berkehein opened in two thousand four, the party was by and for Berliners word soon spread internationally A European budget airline called EasyJet had just opened a new hub in Berlin. other Europeans started taking easy jet flights to the city to come party The legend kept growing, eventually it grew large enough to draw Chris and Dan two of the many Americans who made the pilgrimage to Technomeecca It was a marvel three day party, good enough to draw thousands of people every weekend People who would fly to Germany without even a promise they would gain admittance That was club knocked at Berghheim Most of what people discuss online is not any of this. Instead, They talk about Sen the intimidating bouncer who Chris and Dan encountered and then cowered in front of Sen. Markhart Sen Markquart is a tall, imposing man in his early sixties with giant lip rings that look like silver fangs His hair is slicked back in silver. tattoos of thorns cover much of his face He looks like a bad guy in a John Wick movie, and he has played a bad guy in a Joh Wick movie. That was just a cameo one time though Sen has run security at Berkhein since club first opened twenty years ago Snd's backstory He grew up in East Berlin, the commommunist side of the wall, before it fell. My now get sw Mish sis why think it is an outspll in the bard There's this one documentary Berlin bouncer that profiles Fen In one scene, he has to talk in front of a crowd. He's wearing all black tinted glasses Senn discusses the early chapters of his life. how his teenag years were defined by the feeling of being stuck outside a much more significant kind of door. I starting L Fhuses whenan Alis Numar this Busts of the Andan Zita But what don't I this before unt. Sen saying We just wanted to see the other side of the wall. We didn't really want to leave home. We just wanted to find out What were we being deprived of What were we allowed to say? Senn has said that as a young, gay punk rocker, living in East Berlin was risky He was frequently picked up by the secret police He was devoted to his photography career, but After the wall fell, he chose to stay on the East Berlin side and his art career stalled there. Senn's brother was a DJ and a club organizer, and Svenn started working the door at his parties It turned out, Sen's eye for people worked not just in photography, but also here get a talent for deciding who should be leted in He developed a reputation That's why they choseen for Oscot and later for Berghein. The fact that this much of Senn's biography exists in public Of course goes entirely against Berghein's secretive ethos. Svenn has continued to pursue his photography career And so every few years, when he has a new exhibition or a photo book, She talks to journalists Quions about his photography, which he wants to discuss and questions about how to get into Bergghhein he has tolerate Those are the terms under which the gatekeepers at places like the New York Times or GQ will allow Fen entry and understanding the way of these things He byes man with the answer to our question was the bouncer at Berghein scanning you for I should say I emailed Ven and requested an interview I've never been less surprised to be ignored But in the documentary, there's this prickly moment where the interviewer seems to have directly asked Fenn the rules of the door. The resant isty O my off is not m of fgon then responds not with helpful tips about what shade of black to wear. inststead, he says sternly We don't need to question the rules that are in place He does allow that as a selector, his responsibility is to only let people in who, once they join the party won't impede the freedom and self expression of the people who are already inside. It makes sense, but it does not provide clues. And in any situation in which official sources remain this tight liipped, of course, speculation will reign And it does Oline, as Chris and Dan had seen. main on Tikok They're a cottage industry of people who claim to have gotten through the door now style themselves as helpful experts explaining what exactly they believe Sen is scanning for when he looks at people like Chris and Dan trying to get inside the mind of a sixty two year old gay German ex punk. Be really casual, donon't be flamboyant, donon't speak too much. Don't talk too loud in the queue and under no circumstances engage in laaughter. Literally just basically be as casual and blending as possible in order to get in. So we got It's impossible to know if any of these people are actually telling the truth. Again, you can't record inside of Berghein, which means you just have to take their word for it. I promise. People say that you need to wear black to get in But that's not true It helps But it's not a must. I know a guys. Just be yourself and if you get in, you get in and if you don't Try again some other time or call it a wrap When I went back, I was wearing The advice offered by these supposed gurus frankly does not feel all that usable Try to get in or maybe don't. Wear black, but you don't have to L sharp, but also like you don't care that much My favorite artifact of all the online Berghein speculation is this website called bergheinrainer. com that will actually drop you into a surprisingly HR simulation of the Berghein line The site takes control of your webcam and then scans your face analyzing your emotions through your expressions. angry, sad, euphoric your face is, giving a virtual simulation of Sven's gaze And then the first person video virtually walks you step by step to the doors of Berghhein. The music gets louder as you get closer. The website warns you that Sen will ask you three questions Soorry did. it's aasthma When I arrived at the virtual door, a German man, presumably an actor playing his van asked Is this your first time here I said yes. I of hch beard Yes Do you know who is DJing tonight? I said yes Thats what's going on He asked whether I'daken drugs, I said nine After a moment of scanning, the virtual bouncer told me as. good today And then made the hand gesture toward the street same hand gesture Chris and Dan had gotten To be honest with you, this rejection by a fake bouncer It hurt my real feelings. I'll tell you something about myself that won't surprise you I've never been considered cool I know cool people. I'm not against coolness I just don't possess it. uncool enough that I often ask the cool people I know to explain to me why certain things are cool right now How did we decide big pants are back in style If you have to ask, you're not cool. And I do have to ask, both professionally and just because of my personality So I'm not cool, and I'm old enough to be okay with that This was a little different Berghein, where Sn ruled It seemed to me that the source of his power lay partly in his refusal to explain himself My job as a journalist was the opposite to understand and explain And I just couldn't resist the challenge of trying to understand something that was designed to obscure itself That was why, even after all this internet sleothing and documentary watching, we would continue digging for the better part of a year We'd talk to lots of people, we'd read too many books devoted to the Telmedic study of German techno, its origins and subgenres And in the end, we'd emerge with an answer. What was Berghein scanning for and why How would a place like this come to be All that. after the break This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Snapple Hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break But not just any break. This is a refreshing break, a snapple. We all know about Snapple's iconic real facts, so let's take a moment to go over some of my faves Snappil Real Fact one three six one, a nun held one of the first PhD's in computer science. Snabil Real Fact one, six four three The first search engine's name is Archie. For Snpple Real Fact one hundred fif one seven, in New York, it is illegal to sell a haunted house without telling the buyer Snnapple realal fact one, two, two, eight Tims can develop their own fashion trends So grab a snpple, take a second, enjoy the moment Because let's be honest This might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple, make your brake more interesting Now let's get back to the show This episode of Search Engine is brought to you a far by Quince. One thing I love about summer is how easy everything feels, especially when you have those comfortable go anywhere pieces you can reach for again and again on relaxed days. 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It's the perfect way to help someone keep more of their thinking in one place. Try noteability today at notability d. com and use code search twenty five at checkout to get twenty five percent off Welcome back to the show In America, in the circles I run in People complain a lot about capitalism I don't think they're bothered by the exchange of goods and services. I think it's their shorthand way of saying Everything here is just too driven by profit Even things that start out good can be squeezed to death by our ceaseless desire to bring out every possible vllar In Berlin, a place where, until recently, capitalism and socialism both operated, In Berlin, it feels like something else is going on. The nightlife industry there brings in one and a half billion tourism dollars a year They're strange dollars The Crown jewel, Berghein operates by turning away thousands of paying customers. And despite demand, it keeps its ticket prices pretty low all well existing in a building that is thirty seven thousand six hundred square feet in a very hipid neighborhood And not only does this all seem to work, it's worked for a long time. That doesn't happen in nightlife. Clubs don't stick around. Studio fifty four was open for less than three years. Burghein is on its twentieth And people attribute a lot of that success to Berghein's strict and strange door policy. You can tell the story of that door as a story about culture, about cool Cool, we know, never explains itself So let's get inside Bergheim from a different direction I'm gonna tell you the story not about DJs and bouncers, but about lawyers and lobbyists the municipal regulation and policy that allows this club to exist the way it does A story that begins in nineteen forty nine Hi, can hear me Hey, Hey you well. How' it going over there? Well, well, well Look slights and ring. I'd first heard about him from one of my best friends, Kay Burke, a nightclub founder herself People in Berlin called Litz the Mor of the city's nightlife Um Can you explain like who I am and what we're up to over here? I think she might, but it was also quite somet timee agol, so maybe you can film me in again. Yeah. So I have this podcast called Search Engine where We just try to answer people's questions no matter how simple or complicated. and we do sort of like all manner of stuff we do like Really serious stuff, like we just did something about fentanyl and the drug supply in America, but we also do really silly stuff and kind of like everything in between And what level are we here in this conversation? We're closer to silly, I think.. So we have these friends I want to tell you about who just like didn't get into Burgine and are confused about it But it's sort of an excuse to tell the larger story about nightlife. I think for people in the United States, it's a place you go and you spend five hundred dollars on champagne. And like, you know what I mean? It's like for ten dollars on a can of beer. Yes without a glass. Exactly Germans like Lotz call this style of nightclub botelles and models, shorthand for the economic model that drives them Clubs like these are what most Americans think of when you say nightclub spots that tend to make their money by enticing rich people to pay for tables and buy bottles of champagne so that they can feel important The clubs are like little status factories In Berlin though, that same word nightclub. describes an entirely different operation fueled by a different economic model. And Litz's job is to protect that status quo He's nightlife's advocate in the offices of city bureaucrats The spokesperson for Berlin's Club commommission I wanted Litz to tell me how Berlin's unusual nightlife scene had come to be And that story is the story of two arguments First argument takes place in the late nineteen forties Argument one is about a very specific rule curfew In Berlin today, there is no curview. Bars and clubs stay open as long as they want. And can you tell me the story of how Berlin came to be a city with no curview? Like what is the origin story of that decision The decision is like almost eighty years old and it happened right after World War two So nineteen forty nine, you had already a divided city between the easastern sector and the Western sector. The easastern sector controlled by the Russians and the Western sector controlled by the British, the French, and the Americans And in the eastern part, there was a curveiew at ten PM So all the restaurants, bars, hotel bars, cabaret bars, etcera had to close at ten PM in the eastern part. In the western part, it was nine PM So an hour earlier And there was this, let's say representative, a spokesperson of the hotels and restaurants of Berlin. His name was Hein Selimeyer Heines Zellermeyer There was no club commission back then Heines was instead the deputy director of the Guild of Berlin Hoteliers In photos, Hinz has an enormous smile and combed back hair. He looks like someone who'd held forth at a restaurant or two Heines did not like the curfew He particularly did not like that his side of the city had an earlier curfew The person to complain to was General Howalley of the US Army, the American's West Berlin commandant A meeting was set and Heines, supposedly, came prepared. The story is that he brought a bottle of whiskey to that meeting. So they met and they were talking about it and General Howley said, Yeahah, the British and the French they' not really supporting any idea of losing this curve view. They say it's a security issue. So you have to give me an argument that I can give the French and the British. And the problem was that at that moment in the western part, people had to go out of the bar and then they went to the easastern sector for another hour which was also not really liked by the Americans, you know. So he said, if you kick Germans were partarting at a certain hour, you kick them out of the street, you're going to have a security issue. So you have to better find a solution for it It was a well reasoned argument The Allies did not want drunk Westerners crossing east in search of a later last call And worse, there'd been an emerging Cold warar of curfews, with each side, the east and the West repeatedly extending an hour past each other to try to capture all the income from drunk berlinners Eliminating curvefiew would solve the security issue and win the Night War Howie was sold He said, Okaykay, let's try this out for two weeks. and since then, nineteen forty nine, we have no curfew Berlin one of the rare cities that has no curfew at all In nineteen forty nine, when the city permanently deleted its curview, obviously techno music did not exist. Raving was something people did in insane asylums Anyone was listening to music in a club late at night It was probably jazz But this decision set Berlin on a path Nightlife is funded more than anything else via the sale of alcohol A city without a curfew can have a legal party that runs through the night, even that runs multiple nights Half a century ish later, teechno will hit Berlin. People will begin to throw raves in illegal spots without permits. This will happen in a lot of cities at the same time Detroit, New York, London. But what makes Berlin different from those places is that here Many of those raves can actually become legitimate businesses, can find permanent homes and clubs General Halle's nineteen forty nine agreement is the first precondition for Kub knched at Berghein It sets the stage for a party that can last for three days Years later, as the scene starts to mature, a second argument takes place An argument which almost kills these nightclubs Argument two taxes In the early two thousands, Berghein was a rising young club alongside already established spots like Trisor and the Kit Kat Club And Berlin's tax authority started to take a closer look at these places How much funoney were they bringing in Shn't city be getting a beer cut Government tax agents walk into Berghein, presumably without needing permission from Spen. They're there documenting everything they see. Asking a question From a taxs perspective, what is happening in these rooms In Germany, if you pay money for a ticket and enter a venue where music is played According to Taxmen, you may be having one of three different experiences. You might be experiencing high culture like opera, in which case, the city will barely tax the ticket You might be at a concert like the Rolling Stones, in which case, the city will moderately tax the ticket or you might be experiencing Enertainment This happens in casinos, in porn theaters In that case, the city will take a big tax bite, almost twenty percent Before the tax officials began to take a closer look at the club scene These venues had been mostly taxed as concert venues But now in two thousand eight The city started to ask pointed questions Was the DJ really a musician? Was a techno show really like a concert the perception that people in government had said a DJ is not a concert. People are going there to have sex or to drink or to whatever but not because of the DJ. they even sent people to clubs and documented that People were not facing the artists, they were talking to each other. Oh my God, stuff like that to kind of prove the point that this is not a concert. W. I've been a concert where people were not facing the artists and talking to each other. Exactly. But they said, clubs is different. peopleeople go there to meet people, not because of the artists, they don't even know who's playing these kind of argumentations Berghein was the club that actually took this case all the way to the high courts Bk kind one The Berg Hein in the government' books, was cemented as a concert venue. place where people went because they loved techno music Weirdly, this is one part of the answer to Chris and Dan's questions What was the bouncer, Sven scanning for at the door He needed to ensure they were true technoheads, not people there simply for entertainment. That consideration, a funny side effect of the argument the club had had to make in court years ago It may have been part of what filtered them out. Chris and Dan Not true technoheads Berghein's victory in court meant that any German nightclub that could prove it was meeting Berghein's cultural standards could be taxed like Berghein Lower taxes meant they could keep their overhead low. The lower the overhead, the less pressure to make money The less pressure to make money, the more they could continue to keep their nightclubs dedicated to preserving Berlin's strange counterculture. Let's tell me about another one of these battles I don't know if you're aware of zoning, what that means in cities. So there are different zoning laws which says in certain zones of the city, there are certain allowances. So for instance, you cannot build an amusement venue, like a leisure venue in a residential area. Right. The problem with this categorization is that you're only fully legal in the very center of the city. where also the prices are very high. So If you want to do it properly, you have to be very commercial to survive. And now that we are more flexible in what areas of the cities we can establish music venues, we can also maybe turn a form a restaurant or bar into a club possibly which we could not before because it was in the wrong zone. It's so interesting though, it's like you get You get the government to classify clubs differently. that changes like where clubs can appropriately be in the city. Then if the clubs can be in places where they otherwise wouldn't have been allowed, they can have like a different profit incentive, likeike they don't have to just like make as much money as possible and you end up with a different culture because of Just a change to how the government classified something. That's really interesting. Exactly We're going to come back to this strange court case and its consequences in the second part of this story Before I left Lots, I wanted to ask him specifically about Chris and Dan What was it about them The way they look the way they dressed that had signaled they didn't belong at Bergheim. Litz does not represent Berghein, but as spokesperson for the Club Commission and as a Berghein regular I thought he might be able to help Can I shoot a couple photographs and you tell me if the person seems like I'm not a selector so. I can only give you my personal opinion. Yeah. Is it okay to ask you your opinion on it? Yeah, sure. Of course. Okay, this is one person. Um Well very friendly Maybe queer person Very soft P he's wearing some kind of esn't really say anything. like when is it? It's too generic of a top, the vest. I think it looks authentic to him, but this person looked very innocent Yeah And you also want to save some people for you know to getting into something that they maybe don't expect Okay, K. So so this is the person he went with. Yeah I would probably send them to Schwartz with Schwartz It's our oldest best known gay club. And that's the perfect life for those two guys becausecause they don't seem like techno guys to you. They seem like gay guys who are going out clubbing They don't look like part you know, like standing in the middle of a sweaty club and going for hours and enjoying this And, you know, they're standing more like having a chat, you know, like and' that's okay to have some of those folks in the venue, but