Hamburg - Port of Call for traders, sailors and explorers

Or so it was. And it's my place of birth. During my last visit I explored some more favorite facets of my home town, and decided to make an all inclusive travel post for the lucky few who will get stranded on its shores. For all others, this virtual trip must suffice:

I already mentioned in my other posts about Hamburg that it is an old harbor town...

...with an infamous sailors' red light district...other samples can be seen here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30866&forum=2

Nowadays hip "beach" bars sit opposite the docks...

But its trading tradition is unforgotten...

...and part of my family heritage:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=27345&forum=16&vpost=360961&PHPSESSID=c4ac68a48add7300f14715c2e0adb66e

It was the collection of the South Sea trader family Godefroy which formed the base for the fantastic Hamburg Anthropology museum...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30080&forum=2

...which houses the most spectacular Maori meeting house I have ever come upon, Rauru:

...carved to a large part by Maori artist Tene Waitere. I will have to post a separate thread just on this beauty once I find the time.
Detail of the window:

But I am repeating myself. Here is one more link to one of my earlier posts, to the location of Harry's Harbor Bazaar:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=23491&forum=2

The sheer convolution of primitive art in this place is unparalleled. At first it might seem like a typical harbor curio store:

You will find dried starfish and ship's models,

... and assorted knick knacks of various cultures...

..but then the carved ancestral images take over...

Built like a labyrinth, with a basement to match the upper level, you are amazed a the endless amount of primitive art at every turn:

I am only able to show a small amount of the offerings here...

(Yes, that is a taxidermied giraffe)

My sister and my son walked around stunned after a while:

One of many rooms:

Diego in disbelief:

Even the toilet is crammed with exotic carvings:

...and lets not forget the taxidermy room:

..not for the faint-hearted. Diego had a "Picasso-experience"...at least in terms of the smell:

But let's take breather here, I would hate for this post to crash!

Fantastic photos, Sven!

Happy belated birthday to you...

But where would the intrepid explorer go to get his threads for expeditions into strange climate zones:
Well to Ernst Brendler off course, marine and tropical outfitter for 130 years!:

I love traditional stores that have not modernized:

The best thing is their brochure has not changed in 50 years:

Well maybe some guys did grow 70s sideburns:


...but tropical swankiness is timeless!

So I had to get myself a 100% linen shirt:

Feels as soft as potato sack cloth! :)

And now, last not least, this one is for Uncle Trav, who has chosen a quote I used in the Book of Tiki as his signature here on TC:

A quote by Karl Woermann,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Woermann

..who was disinherited by his father when he decided to become an art historian. His fahter owned the Deutsch-Afrika shipping line...

...and to this day this warrior stands guard at the Woermann's Afrika Haus in Hamburg, built in 1899:

...while the back entrance in the courtyard is flanked by these elephants:

Granted, these are not Tikis, but the architectural use of romanticist renditions of exotic icons is similar.
Hope you all enjoyed this little excursion through my home town.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-17 18:31 ]

Wow...you never see eclectic delights like those in the US, unless in a private collection or museum. That elephant entry is awesome. Love the safari look. Your travel pictures are always inspiring...thanks Sven.

Just wait til my Paris report! :)

Ah, Hamburg! I lived there for a while, returned a few times to visit friends, but haven't been back in too many years. Your post reminds me how much I miss it. It's a unique city in many ways. Are the Gun Club and the Poodle Club still there Sven?

Please post more pictures if you have the chance.

OK, for you as an old Hamburger (?), here some generic pics from various spots in HH:

My son displaying the good ol' teenage attitude...

And here, for you especially, a wider shot of the courtyard, showing part of a tile mosaic mural depicting tropical flora and fauna.

The upper, out of frame part was destroyed in the war. To my chagrin, I failed to shoot close ups of the remaining part, sorry. You'll just have to go there yourself and check it out. :)

P.S.: The Poodle Club is still around and busy.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-08-30 01:05 ]

Wow! No words can express. Thank you.

Thanks so much Sven! I used to shop at Rough Trade and loved so many bands that were on the L'age D'or label. One of my favorite bands of all time - Cpt. Kirk &. Part of the Hamburg Schule along with Blumfeld, Die Sterne, Tocotronic....... Those music posters behind your son epitomize what i remember as the style for band advertisements. There were some great ones by a band called Dackelblut, you can imagine what one can do with images of a bloody Dachshund.

I miss the Elbe too..... Oh we used to stay up late at Onkel Otto and then get breakfast at a place in the industrial or meat packing district. Can't remember the name of it though. I remember sitting there at 7 AM surrounded by butchers in bloody aprons.........

Thanks for bringing back all the good bloody memories!

Maggie

[ Edited by: cheeky half 2009-09-01 19:40 ]

Thanks for sharing these pictures of your hometown Sven! I've been wanting to go to visit Trader Vic's and the red-light district, which has so much musical history. How I wish that there was a time machine so I could stroll the Reeperbahn in the early 60s and hang out in clubs like the Kaiserkeller, Top Ten Club, and the Star-Club. Not only to catch The Beatles during their early wild days, but all the other beat groups and U.S. R&B acts that played in Hamburg too.

On 2009-09-02 17:04, thejab wrote:
How I wish that there was a time machine so I could stroll the Reeperbahn in the early 60s and hang out in clubs like the Kaiserkeller, Top Ten Club, and the Star-Club. Not only to catch The Beatles during their early wild days, but all the other beat groups and U.S. R&B acts that played in Hamburg too.

Hear! Hear!
How I've thought and "been there" so many times in my dreams...
Definitely thanks for sharing, Sven! Your travelogues are always a feast for the eyes!

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 ]

Great thread. Really enjoying the whole nautical theme.

Thanks K.H. - Say, what do you think of this Demarara rum?:

Hamburg has two good liquor stores that sport an extensive rum selection. The best one is Weinquelle Luehrmann, where I found the above O.V.D. rum:

They have a four page list of rums in stock:

...all organized by country of origin:

I usually pick up a bottle of Wood's Old Navy at the duty free in Heathrow airport when I fly in,

...but I had never tried the "Old Vatted Demarara". Both have that molassy thick blackness that I like, but O.V.D. has less of a bite due to its lower proof. A small injection of these will turn any Mai Tai into its proper dark color!

The other rum dealer in Hamburg is Sigvald Hansen in St.Pauli:
http://www.sigvald-hansen.de/

He surprised me by having those themed Barbados Harbour policeman bottles still on the shelf (..are they still being manufactured?) I have an old one of the standing cop, but I had never seen this "drummer on rum barrel" guy:

...so I had to get one. The rum is drinkable, too. :D

The Demararas sure helped me get the chill out of my bones (from shooting outside at night in subzero temperatures) when I used them in my hot lemon/ fresh ginger/ honey/ tea brew:

Gooood!

I love my old home town of Hamburg, but I am glad I am back at my home of choice now, and exchanged this view:

...with this one:

Hot rum toddies are great, but chilled tropical juice concoctions in their appropriate climate are better :)

Looking forward to a Tiki-rich season in L.A.!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-17 18:49 ]

Sven, I heard from our (now)-mutual friend Mr. Christiansen.

He send me a PDF of his latest menu.

Care to discuss his Hamburg Fishmarkt bar...?

I tried the OVD rum when you and I were at Rum Trader in Berlin together.
I had an OVD rum "Manhattan" while I was waiting for you to arrive.
Definitely drinkable.

On 2011-03-17 18:45, tikibars wrote:
Sven, I heard from our (now)-mutual friend Mr. Christiansen.

He send me a PDF of his latest menu.

Care to discuss his Hamburg Fishmarkt bar...?

Ha, cool! Yeah, I am waiting for them to send me the menu, then I'll post about it. The story will begin something like this:
"A Tiki author walks into a cocktail bar..." :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-17 21:58 ]

Check your email!

Excellent post,Sven!
Amazed at all the wonderful treats in your hometown!
that Maori meeting house is incredible
as well as those shots of the rooms filled to the brim with primitive artifacts
AND a taxidermy room!!!!
Thank you for taking us along on your travels!

Ken, I was thinking so much about you while visiting Rauru this time, how you would FREAK OUT at the sight of these intricate carvings!
I gotta post some peeks for you, even though I still want to make one big comprehensive post about this amazing, one-of-a-kind Gesamtkunstwerk. Here is a sampling, with no comments:

Wow. That is an incredible amount of intricate detail work. GROG wish GROG could see that in person.

Indeed. Tene Waitere's tatoo detailing alone is amazing:

The level of carving skill displayed in Raruru seems almost too baroque, even overloaded, not primitive enough for Tiki. But it IS part of Tiki's story . The history of Raruru is a mirror of the meeting of the Western with the tribal culture.

Great photos of legendary bars in Hamburg.
If you are in Hamburg again visit our Bar near the old fishmarket and have a look if you like it...

Great shots. Lived in Germany for a year, but the only part of Hamburg I saw was the area around the Hauptbahnhof.

On the priority list.