AWCH Marktstraße in the Karolinenviertel

The Karolinenviertel (Karoline Quarter) comprises a small area between the TV tower and St. Pauli with just one major street, the Marktstraße, and a few side streets such as Glashüttenstraße. New Yorker Adele Riepe, who has many years’ experience in the fashion scene, says, “The unique features of this area are the individual designers with their small stores, and this area has a lot of them, at least as many as in New York’s East Village.” At the second annual Hamburg Fashion Label Day last October, 46 local designers with their own labels participated. The tradition goes back to Jil Sander, who started her business 45 years ago in a small storefront in Pöseldorf which was much like the Karolinenviertel is today.

Like Jil Sander, these budding designers offer elegant clothing for the most demanding taste, such as 13th Katun clothes (“alternative look, high class, not cheap,” according to Adele), Garment (“unusual bags”), Sium (red wool dress for EUR 435), M39, Reuker HP, Nymphenfieber, and Anna Fuchs (who this year was the only German to be nominated for the Rising Stars Award, the U.S. fashion equivalent of an Oscar). Most sizes go to 42, but many shops, such as Garment, are willing to sew the exact dress or jacket in a larger size for no extra charge.

In direct contrast are the seven or eight stores which specialize in the Gothic look à la Dance of the Vampires or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One is Lucky Lucy with black leather, chains, Doc Martens and very original high-heeled shoes for punk ladies. In Trash, the two unisex salespeople are ultra-skinny and have dyed long black hair and black fingernail polish. Besides the usual Gothic stuff, they sell a good collection of Elvis memorabilia, Trailor Trash mugs, and postcards (one pictures a constipated Tweety Bird). The owner of A-Mad/Lani is Herr Alkeilani, a friendly man from Lebanon and Hamburg resident for 25 years, who prints his own t-shirts. He has Hamburg jogging jackets, soccer shirts, military trash, as well as many other t-shirts. Most popular are his Kilani bags: square shoulder bags in bright colors for EUR 35-39, which Adele said are very “in” even among the non-Gothics.

Special among even these very unusual shops are Elternhaus: Maegde und Knechte for t-shirts printed with German texts such as Sie lagen vor Bouillion und hatten keine Löffel (They had crawled to the soup but had no spoons), Arbeit macht Arbeit (Work makes work), or Iraq, Iran, Ikea. They have white onesies for babies (EUR 22) with Von Papa gemacht or It’s a Sohny. U2 has hundreds of silver high-heeled sandals among used (and some new) shoes, boots (even hand-made cowboy boots) from the 1920s to the present, as well as purses and jewelry. Adele said, “I’ve hardly ever seen a second-hand shoe store before.” Andreas Linzner of Atelier für Frottier makes very cuddly stuffed animals, key chains, beach dresses, robes, cosmetic bags, pillows, etc., from old bath towels from the 1950s-70s which he finds at flea markets. Wohnbar sells furniture, also from the 50s to about the 70s, at very reasonable prices.

Go to Fischkopp for second-hand records, Shirtlab for shirts, Fortuna for jeans, Jeevan Asia in Store for anything Bollywood, Herr von Eden for men’s clothing, Schmuckrausch for jewelry, Karo Dame for rhinestones on canvas army webbing (purses and belts), Faktorei Gehim for decorative embroidery and appliqué, Alpenglühn for just a slight touch of Austria, and Braim a sori ba for Austin Powers fashions.

It’s impossible to visit every shop, but write down their websites and do some research. Some offer mail order. Esther, a waitress at Maha Johnny, says, “Here it’s different from going down Mönckebergstraße where it’s the same as every other place. Here people make their own things and live off the sales of them.”

For food, Maha Johnny is just one of the many interesting restaurants in the area, and it offers British or Hamburg breakfast all day as well as lunch specials. If you order the delicious peppermint tea made from fresh mint, ask for a glass with a handle on it because it’s very hot. Senator Watrin is below street level and looks like a flea market which is what it is, besides being a restaurant. Panter Cafebarkitchen looks like your very first student apartment. Go clear to the back for more seats. They have delicious chocolate chip cookies made with white chocolate for 95 cents. Café Klatsch, also below street level but still light and airy, was full of young women out for some gossip (Klatsch). Try these and all the many other restaurants. Even if they look dark and evil from the outside, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Take U2 to Messehallen or U3 to Feldstraße, which faces either end of the Marktstraße; it doesn’t matter where you start. Parking is difficult. Allow yourself plenty of time to investigate; forge ahead on your own according to your tastes and pocketbook. The clientele seems to be young, e.g., students or couples with small babies in strollers. But oldies should not be deterred. Go after noon, when people wake up. Also, the atmosphere is different in the summer when the action moves to the sidewalks. My 27-year-old nephew complains that the area has lost its down-and-out aura and, according to him, “used to be cheaper with many more undiscovered treasures.” It’s too “in” for him but might be just right for you.

This is just one of many original shopping areas in Hamburg. When you have got your second wind or saved up some more cash, try the neighboring Schanzenviertel, other streets around the perimeters of the Karolinenviertel, up and down Eppendorfer Weg, in Eppendorf around Lehmweg, and the newest “in” place: Dietmar-Koel Straße near the Michel church.