Post #579842 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Mar 10, 2011 11:59 PM

It's time to add a little report about the last authentic sailors' bars at the port of Hamburg.
After all, the sailors' bar is what much of the decor concepts of the Tiki bar were based on.

I always try to stay at the Hanse Clipper Apartments when in Hamburg...
Not only because the place has this Moai standing in the park across from it...

(carved by Easter Islanders from their own volcanic rock)

...but the Hanse Clipper Apts are right at the end of the Ditmar Koel Street...

...which leads directly to the harbor.
You can find enough nautical supply stores here to outfit several "Ports of Call" and "Captain's Table" rooms, from brassy Accoutrements...

...to actual rope and net supplies:

Even the local playground stays in the theme:

Though in today's container shipping industry, freighters do not look like ships anymore, meaning not like this:

...but like giant tubs, where the bow looks like the stern :( :

...the port of Hamburg has a few real sailors' bars left. Best known is the Haifisch Bar (Sharkfish Bar):

With its clutter of nautical items and fishnets...

...it is a tangible memorial to the romance of the seafaring life.

Even its customers are real:

Right around the corner from the Haifisch Bar is the Schellfischposten:

...which is decorated floor to ceiling with ships photos and exotic mementos from distant shores:

Please note that his is all AUTHENTIC decor, not something ironic (like our home bars :) ) :

My favorite no frills local joint I found in a back street to the Ditmar Koel Strasse:

"The Junk" sounds like such a great concept for a Tiki Bar! - WHY has nobody done that yet!?

Well, the famed China Trader in Burbank and the Castaways in Miami used a Chinese Junk for their logo...
-but to build a whole place in that theme..!? :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-17 18:23 ]