Roses

About this place Roses

Roses is one of those bars that is impossible to describe accurately to someone who has not been. The interior is encased in pink fur — walls, ceiling, bar — lit in deep red, with miscellaneous kitsch accumulating over decades. It is a small bar by any standard, which means that on a busy Friday night it reaches a density of humanity that would be intolerable in most contexts but here feels exactly right. Drag queens and hostesses have worked the bar since its earliest years. The music is pop and camp classics. The crowd is absolutely everybody — gay men, lesbians, bisexual people, trans people, straight allies, tourists, neighbourhood regulars who have been coming since the 1990s, and first-time visitors who wandered down Oranienstraße and were drawn in by the pink glow through the windows. On the Oranienstraße in Kreuzberg — one of Berlin's most politically active and community-oriented streets — Roses embodies the inclusive queer spirit that makes this neighbourhood distinct from the more stratified scenes elsewhere in the city. No website, no reservations, no entry fee. Just the bar. Open until the last person leaves.