Check Point Curry -- Berlin

Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: this nighttime shot of Berlin's "Check Point Curry," a currywurst-stand situated at the site of the notorious Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall. Link

[#1 posted by coaxial , January 10, 2008 12:34 AM]

My favorite post-Wall moment was seeing the double roll of bricks that marked where the wall once stood, and then seeing that row of bricks cut right through a Starbuck's
http://flickr.com/photos/jonathankoren/1024050833/

[#2 posted by Anonymous , January 10, 2008 12:48 AM]

snap: http://www.flickr.com/photos/memespring/1129901612/in/set-72157601457975880/

[#3 posted by thingstocome , January 10, 2008 3:32 AM]

If you like Berlin photos come and see my daily photo blog from the capital city:
http://theberlinimage.blogspot.com/

Here's a post about frozen Currywurst and Pommes you can buy in supermarkets here:
http://theberlinimage.blogspot.com/2008/01/currywurst-and-pommes.html

[#4 posted by seanm , January 10, 2008 5:43 AM]

I can't believe you didn't mention the even more awesomely-named "Snackpoint Charlie" in the same location.

[#5 posted by Halloween Jack , January 10, 2008 7:03 AM]

Am I the only person who regrets that he didn't go to Berlin when it was still divided and it was a big Cold War deal to go through something like Checkpoint Charlie? Maybe it's just because Bowie's "Heroes" is one of my favorite songs...

[#6 posted by Bottlekid , January 10, 2008 9:22 AM]

@ #5 Yeah, I'll bet that most Germans who lived there wouldn't agree, but when I went to the former East German side in 2004 and stayed in Alexanderplatz, I told friends on my return that I wished it had been more "seedy". If you like Heroes and the old East Germany perhaps you, like me, saw Christiane F as a teen?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082176/

[#7 posted by Jeffrey McManus , January 10, 2008 9:42 AM]

It's a pity that these currywurst stands are dying out. In decades past you used to see them on every street corner in Berlin; now not so much.

Frozen currywurst? An abomination before Goethe. True currywurst must be made from low-quality sausage, grilled outdoors, and served up by a hard-working yet surly immigrant who is almost certainly violating the tenets of his religion by serving you pork products.

The East side was never seedy. Even commie Germans insist on their tidiness.

[#8 posted by Ari B. , January 10, 2008 9:46 AM]

Currywurst?

[#9 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , January 10, 2008 10:14 AM]

Yay for snack-food stands, then; I have it in for Checkpoint Charlie.

I was head of production at Tor Books when the Berlin Wall came down. We had to scramble like mad to update descriptions of Berlin in novels that were way too close to their publication dates. IIRC, every one of them that had action set in Berlin mentioned Checkpoint Charlie.

[#10 posted by JG , January 10, 2008 10:41 AM]

Great pic!
PLEASE drop the "Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels" intro to EVERY pic you take.
It just becomes tiresome after, oh, lets see, the 1000th time!! lol
Nice work Cory!

[#11 posted by ill lich , January 10, 2008 10:52 AM]

Seems every country has it's own unique crappy fast food. Reminds me of fries with white gravy in Canada: "mmmmm. . . starch sauce on starch!"

I remember Thurston Moore saying something once about the fall of communism, along the lines of he "missed having another planet on our own planet."

[#12 posted by Halloween Jack , January 10, 2008 11:10 AM]

#6: No, unfortunately; it's still somewhere on my list, though.

[#13 posted by tinyhonkshus , January 10, 2008 11:55 AM]

Oh yay! I flipped out when I saw that place in Berlin and then my camera immediately died. I'm so glad I have a photo of it now! (Though judging by the comments, I guess I could've just googled it)