Swimming at the Soho House

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All roads in Berlin seem to lead to the Soho House these days. The recently opened social club and hotel is crawling with expats (or, more precisely, ex-New Yorkers). We ended up there a couple of nights for dinner during our stay and also were able to take the kids swimming in the rooftop pool. Say what you will about some of the club’s members in New York, but the Soho House Berlin is a pretty darn sweet place to hang. The hipster club chain is nearing the end of a top-to-bottom renovation of the striking old department store building (and former Communist Party headquarters) at the corner of Torstrasse and Prenzlauer Allee. Evidently one is not supposed to take any photos poolside, but we didn’t find that out until we’d already snapped a few. As you can tell from the views of the Fernsehturm (the iconic television tower) by Alexanderplatz, it’s not a bad spot for a tourist to drink in the town. Interesting side story: When the architects first saw the leather-lined elevators, they thought they looked too new, so they began scratching them up with a key and encouraged visitors to do the same, as you can see from the photo. After our stay at the Ace Hotel in Portland back in May, we were amused to see yet another boutique hotel with turntables and LPs in the rooms! Our only criticism was that the records at the Soho House were new. Otherwise, we can’t imagine why you’d want to stay anywhere else—at least during the summer months when the pool scene is in full swing. (This is the last Berlin post we’ll be doing. By the time you read this, we’ll be on our flight back to New York.)