The Bambi Kino (cinema) was a small and decidedly sleazy movie
theater owned by Bruno Koschmider, who also owned the Indra and
Kaiserkeller clubs. The Beatles lived in
cramped quarters behind the movie screen during their first stay in
Hamburg, August - November 1960. Now an apartment building, the
cinema entrance was where the garage door now stands.
The Reeperbahn Police Station is the most notorious in Germany, and it is
here that Paul and Pete were brought after Koschmider seized upon
their parting prank at the Bambi Kino (setting a condom on fire) as a
chance for vengeance after the Beatles defected to a rival promoter's
club. Paul and Pete were promptly deported, and the Beatles'
first excursion to Hamburg came to an abrupt end.
Gretel & Alfons cafe
inside Gretel & Alfons
The Gretel & Alfons cafe, a few doors down from the Star Club, was
the Beatles' favorite offstage hangout, and popular with all the groups,
strippers and other "entertainers" as a refuge from the circus atmosphere
of the other Reeperbahn clubs. A signed Paul McCartney poster
hangs just inside the door, along with a receipt for the 1989 payment of a
long-standing bill... McCartney settled up on the occasion of his 1989
show in Hamburg, and wrote "Paid In Full" under his signature.
Friedrich Ebert Hall
Friedrich Ebert Hall concert board
The Beatles made their first professional recordings as the backup
band for singer Tony Sheridan in May 1961. The recordings were made
under the supervision of producer Bert Kaempfert in the Friedrich-Ebert
Hall in Harburg, a suburb of Hamburg. The Friedrich-Ebert Hall
is actually an auditorium in a school building; the recordings were made
on the auditorium stage with the curtains pulled. The Hall is
located across from the Heimfeld S-Bahn (train) stop.
