Cruising areas, erotic pub crawls and prince farmhands

After such a long and cold winter and a rather short, fresh spring I wish for a long, continuous and hot summer. We occasionally had some warm, sunny and dry days already, which made some of the homo-outdoor celebrations something special: as in previous years, the CSD, the “transgenialer CSD” and the Schöneberg city festival were all very lucky to have had great weather while in other parts of Germany heavy rains generated floods at the beginning of June. At the same time, Berlin’s sport events, such as the Berlin Triathlon, did experience some wet patches, but took place anyway. What else could we do? In case a long, continuous and hot summer keeps us waiting for several more weeks, months or, at worst, maybe even years, German citizen, but particularly, Berliners have already learned to deal with the rather changeable weather in the meantime. And Berliners can adjust quite spontaneously to some sudden sun time: in case rays of sunshine occur at short notice, I can definitely expect to find naked men on my way to work as I cycle through the Tiergarten; and surely, these men also want to tan their masculine glory just as spontaneously. Mostly, older men lie naked on the meadows right and left of the route between the Siegessäule and the Nordic Embassies, wishing to be seen and to “socialize” – that is how the place got its name: the piggy or sissy meadows. Of course, such areas exist in other cities as well, but the Berlin Tiergarten, with its central location and its vast area, seems to provide the cruising area par excellence. If the weather is not suitable for sunbathing in the nude, clothing helps to ease the wait around the bushes of the English Garden for a little company of sorts. These public areas appear to be particularly attractive, as they offer the promise of a fast and uncomplicated climax without any financial or emotional commitment. I personally cannot understand why parks, parking places or cottaging appear as a sexually attractive option, which is why I want to write about some alternative cruising areas that are also suitable for autumn and winter temperatures: clubs, bars and pubs.

During dark, wet and cold days, no one has to abstain from some of the warmer indulgences for which Berlin offers quite a number of bars, clubs and pubs where you can cruise and have a good time, and hence, a sunny day despite bad weather conditions. There are a number of such establishments, for instance, the Berghain, the Kitkat club or, if it is to be for gays only, Tom’s Bar in Schöneberg which definitely can have such effects. All three of these places have, for decades, enriched the Berlin club scene and contributed a huge part to the Berlin gay-party history. I myself have tried all three of these sites, because of my inexhaustible curiosity for new things. The former voltage transformation substation known as Berghain is certainly the most suitable everyday club: here, an international, mixed audience finds its interests and appeal for electronic music and dancing fulfilled, average party clothes are as welcome as elaborate fetish styles, the industrial culture quenches cultural appetites, and within its labyrinth-like basement even partnership cravings can be satisfied. If that is not enough, you may go next door to the Laboratory, the affiliated sex club. Everyone, who is fallen for fetish and hanging body parts, will be highly entertained in the Kitkat club: it is colorful and shiny, offers a swimming pool, and the crazier and more revealing the evening dress – visitors tend to be more or less dressed, the easier it will be to pass the door. Indeed, the Kitkat club was an already familiar term to me from hearsay when I still went to school in the Ruhrpott. In May for the annual Fetish Fair in Berlin, which consists of the German Fetish Fair and the associated ball, every fetish enthusiast can get happy, purchase expensive suits, corsets and equipment for rubber and latex friends, and even afterwards, take them to their own show in the Kitkat, before applying these tools in the mixed darkroom cellar.

Berlin offers quite a number of less known clubs with sex parties and gay darkrooms, perhaps even less original in comparison to the almost historic clubs such as Berghain, Kitkat or Tom’s Bar. However, every darkroom is somehow furnished in a similarly unspectacular way with slings, special chairs and other toys. Honestly, I have always only been in darkrooms when the lights were still or already again turned on, which may be the reason why I might know them better by heart than any other visitor or cruising specialist. Besides darkrooms of bars such as the Stahlrohr, Bull or Laboratory, there are plenty of sauna clubs or nude parties in our capital as well. Even some non-profit clubs and associations have their own regular sex parties in their programs like the AHA with its Adult Party or the SchwuZ with its Schlagernacktparty. When the Schlagernacktparty had still taken place in the Ackerkeller, I once went astray to this place. But after I was already able to identify everybody outside as naked, we decided to move on to our next party station. Another established and more or less popular party is, mentioned here for the sake of completeness, the Fickstutenmarkt (market for bang mares) which leaves, at least for my definition, no room for erotics at all: who wants to join there, only wants one thing either as mare or as stallion.

I usually go for a pub crawl or regularly land, albeit unplanned, after a party fully clothed in one of my favorite bars for a nightcap. With the quantity of sexual escapades of Barbie Breakout or Nina Queer I cannot compete, especially, because most trannies neither need a separate sex club, nor a separate sex party for having fun. Quite the contrary, a civilized evening in a gay pub with eye contact and the average flirt provides me already with a great enrichment and leads to the desired summer heating. And this kick, I can already get relatively easy in any normal gay bar, also without any emotional and financial commitment. My favorite nightcap bar is the Prinzknecht, for which I would travel through the whole city. This bar is located in the Fuggerstraße near Wittenberg square. This bar participates in all homo-celebrations – even the Eurovision Song Contest can be enjoyed as a Public Viewing Event there. Unusual about this point is that most of the Prinzknecht guests correspond to a particularly masculine model of a man (or at least that’s what they wish for): you can find bearded hairy men, who believe themselves to be very butch, some actually are, or some just look like this. In addition to the general sense of masculinity, the high testosterone concentration in the air, and the fact that you can get Becks from a draught, the bartender Armand and Kai are the most attractive reasons for a visit – the real prince farmhands (Prinzknechte) of the Prinzknecht. I think that more than 90% of the guests go there, because of this dream couple, and get lost in the muscular wide cleavages of the two strong males. Who does not know them, should picture them themselves. Because, if it does not work out to be a hot summer, the bartenders Armand and Kai provide the necessary heat, for which you neither need a special club nor a special party.

Well, if the summer is not hot enough again, there are plenty of alternatives. But be careful: do not burn your fingers!

Your Bambi Szeen