Berlin Layers - Blog

Berlin

Dong Xuan Center

The Dong Xuan Center is located in the Lichtenberg neighborhood in Berlin. It is tucked away inside an old warehouse and factory complex, and is housed in several corrugated metal and tin-roof buildings. This being Germany, the roofs are covered in solar panels. According to Stil in Berlin, the rest of the complex is slated to be converted into an Asian Culture House, a Markthalle, and several other things.

Each building consists of a long central hallway, with various vendors - ranging from hair salon supply shops to grocery stores to belt stores - occupying space on either side of the hallway. At both ends of the hallway there are poster boards with help wanted ads, neighborhood events, and plain old advertisements. My brother, recently returned from living in Southeast Asia, said it was just the type of place a traveler might find while strolling through Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. 

Berlin's Ice Factory and Berlin's Future

The Eis Fabrik Berlin, or 'Berlin Ice Factory' on Koepenickerstraße is an abandoned (you guessed it) ice factory along the River Spree. According to Wikipedia (warning: German version), it's one of the oldest surviving ice factories in Germany, and churned out blocks of ice up to 1.5 meters long from its construction in 1914 until its parent company ceased to exist in the early 1990s. There have been plans to demolish it since at least 1995, but the building is still standing today and is currently controlled by TLG, a real estate management company in the city.

Rising Rents and Violence

The issue of gentrification isn't unique to Berlin. But what has been new for me is to witness the visceral, and sometimes violent, reaction of those who feel that their rights are being squeezed. In certain neighborhoods signs like "Go Home Hipsters!" or "Fuck You Yuppies" are common. I've walked past a few of these signs before, but the issue really popped for me a couple of weeks ago when a "Low Rent" sign was posted next to my apartment building, and when later that same day I walked past a new apartment building in Kreuzberg that had been vandalized. It was clearly not a random act of vandalism. Each window was smashed on the ground floor, paint was sprayed onto the upper floors, and "Hood Defense" was spray painted next to one of the windows. I've posted a few pictures throughout this post.