Berg am Laim

Our part of the city is called “Berg am Laim “, not to be mixed up with the quarter and S-Bahn station “Laim” in the western part of the city.

Berg am Laim means “Hill at the Clay” as there was a huge deposit of clay, which was used to build many of the houses in the city of Munich. At that time, Munich was a nearby city and Berg am Laim a little village. The decoration of the “Kreiller Straße” U-Bahn (underground) station reminds of the clay industry.

We have two catholic churches: St. Stephan (Baumkirchern Straße, you can see it across the field nearby) dates back to the 9^th century.  Today it is a subsidiary of the larger and more prominent St. Michael (Josephsburgstraße/Clemens-August-Straße) near the Josephsburg underground (U-Bahn) station. This rococo church was built in the 18^th century by Archbishop Clemens August of Cologne (a son of the Bavarian ruler Max Emanuel). He owned a hunting lodge here, Josephsburg, which he wanted to enlarge as a counterpart to the grandiose Nymphenburg palace on the other side of Munich. He started his project with the church and hired only the most famous architects, painters and plasterers of that time. He could not finish his plans of the palace, though. Today only the church is left, the Josephsburg palace has never been built. At least, we have a U-Bahn station of that name.

The clay was used up by the end of the 19^th century, but Berg am Laim remained a working class neighbourhood. The railroad became more important. The main route to the South (Austria, Italy, Croatia) goes through Berg am Laim. You can hear it sometimes. The buildings along the tracks have been built for railroad workers who are still the preferred tenants. The local sports and football club has the railroad in its name and railroaders pay a reduced membership fee.

Since Berg am Laim is a not so fashionable neighbourhood, rental fees are still reasonable. However, with each new dwelling zone this is bound to change. In our direct neighbourhood, we experience a major construction site between Hohenburgstraße and Hansjakobstraße. For many years we looked on a field here, soon there will be 800 new appartments. Near the Berg am Laim S-Bahn-Station, at Hermann-Weinhauser-Straße a huge area near the tracks is has been converted into a new quarter. You can still take a walk near the tracks on a concrete boardwalk. This is a nature preseve of its own kind.

Unfortunately, there is no real centre of our quarter. The four-lane Berg-am-Laim-Straße/Kreiller Straße cuts through the former centre. Politics and citizens are trying to establish a centre at Baumkirchner Straße by remodelling the area near the park. There are a couple of restaurants and Aumüller, the best bakery in the area.

Today, 42.000 people live in Berg am Laim.

Silberkopfstraße 9

Our block with the small houses was assigned for construction in the mid 1930’s. By then, there was little more than fields and the tracks southbound to Austria. Some of the houses date back that far. However, our house was built after the war in 1949. The family built it with their own hands, literally. Originally, it was meant to be a home for two families:  the owners and their daughter (who died young). When we bought it in 2005, there was a kitchen and a tiny bathroom on each floor. In the 1970’s the family added the annexe on the north side which gives the house its odd looks.

We had to completely renovate the house since there was no proper heating and water pipes and electricity were still post-war standard. 2010 we finally renovated and insulated the outside and the roof and improved the front yard. Our last project was to complete the attic as a living room. The garage will be the next.

Other quarters in Munich

Here, we mention just a few of the 40 or so quarters and corners of München from a personal point of view.

Trudering and Messestadt

Further to the East lies Tudering. An old village whose remnants you still can see if you follow Truderinger Straße east for about 2km. There are also shopping options.

Also a part of Trudering is the Messestadt. This is a quarter built from scratch after the old airport moved away from the city. The park at Messestadt is called Riemer Park. It’s wide views from the little hill and its lake are worth a walk (and swim). If you pay attention to the design of the park, you will find echoes of the now gone airport.

Haidhausen

Our “neighbour” to the West. Take the tram 19 to Ostbahnhof or Wörtstraße. Nice little streets to walk around Weißenburger Platz and Ostbahnhof. More relaxed than the Glockenbachviertel. Wörthstraße features a number of restaurants with outside seating: from Bavarian, Asian, Turkish, Indian to burgers.

Glockenbachviertel, Isarvorstadt, Gärtnerplatzviertel

Between Viktualienmarkt and Gärtnerplatz and further west to Sendlinger Tor. Jahnstraße, Holzstraße and Müllerstraße.

Little boutiques and shops, art stuff and trendy expensive things. Lots of cafés and restaurants, for example “Faun” (decent meals, Hans-Sachs-Straße/Jahnstraße), “Götterspeise” (Chocolates and cakes – dangerous!, Jahnstraße 30).

Theresienhöhe

On Theresienwiese (U4/U5), you can watch from August how the “tents” for the Oktoberfest are being built up. It gives you an impression of what happens here during the last two weeks of September.

Above the Theresienwiese, home of the Oktoberfest, a new quarter grew during the last few years. It is built on the grounds of the former fair buildings (which are now east at Messestadt). Modern city architecture. In front of the KMPG building (Ganghoferstraße 29) a sculpture by Olafur Eliasson, the double-helix stairs. Another work of his in the Fünf Höfe (shopping place in the city centre, between Marienplatz and Odeonsplatz).

If you are interested in modern city development, you can have a look at Arnulfpark, a new quarter built between Hackerbrücke and Donnersbergerbrücke. With playground: http://www.spielplaetze-in-muenchen.de/cgi-bin/details.pl?n=Arnulfpark

Giesing

Not famous, not beautiful but authentic and not yet gentrified. Stroll along Tegernseer Landstraße from U2 Silberhornstraße to Hochstraße and visit the famous (and authentic) Nockherberg Biergarten.