The "Goldene Bar", Munich

What would a Don The Beachcomber bar opened by Nazis in 1930s Germany look like? Perhaps a little bit like the Golden Bar at the Haus der Kunst in Munich...

Housed in the "Haus der Kunst", which was supposed to be the new art temple for the type of heroic art deemed proper by the Nazi demagoges...

...while exhibitions about "Degenerate Art" denounced any modernist and abstract creativity. Meanwhile, the Golden Bar's golden murals were supposed to convey the regime's "openess to the world"

For decades after the war, anything associated with Hitler's rule was taboo in Germany, so the murals were hidden behind wood panelling.

Luckily, expert cocktailian Klaus St. Rainer (right) happend to stumble on the room, and resurrected its former state (sans the bad guys):

Now one can enjoy classics like the Ti Punch...

...gaze at the vintage rums on display...

while surrounded by mural maps of the world's liquor making countries

One can even imbibe a "Van Hagen" cocktail created by Jo Hirschfeld (The DVD of Tiki) in a mug designed by Kai Sarnes:

Though not a Tiki Bar per se, the Golden Bar is a significant urban archeological discovery, and among the many craft cocktail offerings in Munich, a place that should not be missed.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-06-25 12:00 ]

Bigbro,

Great discovery. Those murals are fantastic.

DC

Sven, Thanks for the excellent field report and history lesson. They're always a lot more compelling when accompanied by photos.

• fm

That shot of the drinks being mixed is great, Sven.

As always...fabulous pictures and artistic descriptions. Those maps are absolutely beautiful, what a wonderful discovery. For those of us that aren't world travelers, a peek into how the past has caught up with the present in a part of the world most of us will never see is a pleasure. THANX

Wonderful setting, Sven, for a history lesson! And I can well imagine how one can really savor the history when it's accompanied by well-crafted rum libations!

-Tom

On 2012-06-24 06:41, bigbrotiki wrote:
Meanwhile, the Golden Bar's golden murals were supposed to convey the regime's "openess to the world"

Well, they certainly did do a lot of traveling, especially after 1939. Those maps of London and the Caribbean got me wondering...how much of the Nazi conquest might have been fueled by the desire for more varied and exotic booze? I can imagine the behind-the-scenes strategy meetings resembling something like a drinking game version of Risk...having a shot of the local libation from each captured territory.

Ah, but I digress. What a fantastic looking backdrop for a bar. And that sign on the street is perfect! I'm looking forward to being there next week. Thanks for sharing!

The Goldene Bar won "Best Bar" at the Berlin Bar Convent a couple of weeks ago, and I have been back several times since I am currently working in Munich...

There is an exhibition on the history of the "Haus der Kunst" with some great Nazi kitsch in the gallery above the bar right now...

..and in a display case I discovered some 1937 Nazi brochures on it, one with a tiny photo of the bar:

(The charming bar with a dance floor - popular through its intimate artistic design)

...and one with a rendering (obviously just copied off the photo above):

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-10-28 01:52 ]

Here is their web site: http://www.goldenebar.de