Café-Bar Himmelreich

Café-Bar Himmelreich has stood on Simon-Dach-Straße in Friedrichshain since 2003 and is the queer address on a street otherwise shaped by party tourism. A sign at the entrance marks it as a gay bar, the day belongs to café service and the evening to the bar, and the Frauenlounge adds a format aimed above all at lesbian guests.

Queer Spot on Simon-Dach-Straße

Simon-Dach-Straße is one of Friedrichshain’s most famous party addresses, and in large parts, it is anything but queer. The fact that Café-Bar Himmelreich has maintained its presence there since 2003 is therefore more remarkable than it appears from the outside. A sign at the entrance identifies the place as a Gay Bar, and this sign makes a statement on this street. Inside, things are unpretentious, the audience is mixed, and heterosexual guests are explicitly welcome. Himmelreich has a dual function: first it’s a café, later it transforms into a bar, and this change happens without a sharp cut. Anyone sitting by the window with a coffee in daylight watches the street awaken; those who come later find the same room in a different light and with a different noise level. For over twenty years, the establishment has maintained its presence at an address where turnover is otherwise high. This alone makes it a fixed point in the neighborhood, and one that doesn’t loudly advertise itself.

Women’s Lounge and an Unpretentious Audience

With the Frauenlounge (Women’s Lounge), Café-Bar Himmelreich offers its own format primarily aimed at lesbians, thereby filling a gap that is larger in Friedrichshain than in Schöneberg or Kreuzberg. Depending on the description, the place is considered the street’s only gay-lesbian establishment or its only lesbian bar, which amounts to the same thing: there’s nothing comparable on this street. The space is small enough to strike up conversations, and large enough that you can also sit alone without attracting attention. The establishment does not publish a price list; the menu is available at the counter. Simon-Dach-Straße is accessed via Warschauer Straße station, from where it’s a few minutes’ walk through the neighborhood, past the venues that are precisely not that. If you want to avoid the hustle and bustle of the street, it’s better to take the route via Boxhagener Straße. Himmelreich does not maintain its own website; if you want to know something, ask at the counter or just drop by.