Shifts in East & West

In 1989 televised images of jubilant Berliners cheering atop the Wall stunned the world. Both West and East Berliners were euphoric, embracing one another with mutual bewilderment and curiosity. The two city administrations managed to successfully integrate, but in the years since, West Berlin -- once a refuge for alternative lifestyles -- lost its edgy reputation to the East thanks to a burgeoning art and nightlife scene that attracts young people, and tourists' ever-growing interest in historic Mitte.

Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, two proud East Berlin districts, are now flooded by transplanted yuppies and dinks (double-income, no-kids couples). The new arrivals are mostly West Germans and young European and English-speaking expatriates. Until the early 1990s Prenzlauer Berg had been a poor area where East German punks eked out an existence and phone service was rare. Now it's one of the trendiest districts.

The days of Ostalgie (nostalgia for the East) have passed, but East Germany's iconography has reemerged as trendy. An East Berlin design that was first discontinued after unification but then won wide appreciation is the figure that appears on the crosswalk traffic lights. The stocky Ampelmann ("street-light man") wears a wide-brim hat and walks with an animated gait. He has regained his ground in most of East Berlin and, since 2004, has even inched his way into West Berlin neighborhoods. Now one of the most distinctive Berlin souvenir icons, the Ampelmann adorns coffee cups and T-shirts and there's even candy made in his image. Entire gift shops are dedicated to him, such as in the Hackesche Höfe in Mitte and the Arkaden mall at Potsdamer Platz.

The 18th-century Prussian Brandenburg Gate may be the city symbol for Berlin tourism, but the East German soaring television tower, the Berliner Fernsehturm, is an enormously popular silhouette for Berlin-based companies' logos, nightclubs' flyers, and advertisements of all sorts. The fate of another symbol of the East German regime, the Palace of the Republic, which housed the East German parliament, has finally been decided after years of heated debate: it's being entirely torn down. The building was slated for demolition after unification but couldn't be blown up because of the asbestos discovered inside. Although it's now almost gone, its location may someday see a replica of the historic Hohenzollern Palace that once stood in the same spot.

The latest icon to receive a jolt from the city's march of progress is the west's Bahnhof Zoo, which has done double duty as a local hub and long-distance train station since the days of the Berlin Wall. Now that Lehrter Bahnhof near the government district has been transformed into "Hauptbahnhof" (the central station), Zoo is bound to lose significance, and the surrounding businesses, money. However, "Zoo" has a grungy reputation, and perhaps transportation's eastward shift will make room for a positive regeneration.