Sally Bowles (Closed Permanently)

Liza Minnelli won her Academy Award (and Julie Harris her Tony) for playing the "divinely decadent" Sally Bowles – the character created in the 1930s by English-born gay writer Christopher Isherwood (1904–86) while he lived at Nollendorfstraße 17, just around the corner from this cocktail bar-café in the thick of gay Schöneberg. Named after Isherwood's creation (who featured in his 1939 novel GOODBYE TO BERLIN), this is a progressive place that caters to a predominantly gay clientele. Cocktails are strong, delicious and unique and the place is handsomely appointed with comfy sofas. Beer, champagne and wines also figure, as do quality nibbles such as bread, olives, cheese and home-made paté and Leberwurst. There's a piano, and it does get played two or three times per week, when the cabaret mood really kicks in. Dancing happens in the basement. And finally, outdoor seating provides a sweet view of the local catwalk talent. In the 2020s the leather-laden BLUF crowd started to congregate and drink outside on special nights, with occasional events taking over the bar full-throttle from about 2022 – all very convenient given the bar's close proximity to New Action and, just round the corner, Pussycat [see entries]. Opened October 2012. U-Bahn: Nolldendorfplatz. Sadly the bar closed forever on 24 August 2024.