Yes, so before you even went there, I live on the right side of Bismarckstrasse.

Right across from me was the main entrance to the Deutsche Opa, and next to the opera, which stretches down from the block, was Krummestrasse.

In front of it was, as I said, a snack kiosk, where you could buy cigarettes, newspapers, and so on.

I think there’s something else there today, and there was also a traffic island, because to the right it led to Richard Wagnerplatz, and from Richard Wagnerplatz back to Bismarckstrasse.

The streets were very narrow, and there were residential buildings there too, so that during the day, or because we often lived in the dark, it always felt like you were being watched.

For example, if it was dark outside in the evening, and the opera was on a break, people would often look straight out of their windows at the spot where you would go to the stall.

Of course that was uncomfortable, and so you’d linger for a bit, sizing things up.

Who’s going to the toilet? Are they interesting to me? And so on.

Well, if there was nothing going on at the opera, which was usually no later than 11pm or midnight, and it stayed that way until five in the morning, then they would come over from Tiergarten.

They hadn’t found anything in Tiergarten, they’d go there because lots of gay people lived in that area too, like artists from the Deutsche Opa, Schiller Theater, and so on.

And just like me, they’d go back and forth between Ernst Reuterplatz to the Deutsche Opa, or from Sophie Scholotenplatz or Richard Wagnerplatz.

It was all within walking distance, or just a quick ride on the subway.

So from 1982 to 1984, I lived across from the Deutsche Opa, with a friend of mine right near the stall.

It was on a traffic island at the corner of Bismarck and Krummestraße, right by the opera.

And it was pretty much right at my doorstep.

And since I was unemployed at the time, I often went there out of boredom, or out of curiosity, to see who might be hanging around.

I’d go down there.

It was underground and just in front.

You could buy newspapers, cigarettes, and so on.

So you’d go underground when you went there.

There were blue doors and three stores that you could go to, you know, toilets.

Before that there was a urinal, and across from it, a sink.

Oh right, that’s what you mean, because it was under the street, under the traffic island.

There were these, actually I found them quite nice, glass bricks built in.

So that means daylight came in.

It was also quite a nice atmosphere because, as I said, if it was dark in the evening, there was this neon light and it was very cold.

So some people broke the lights since it was supposed to be a dark room.

Instead of three lights, only one would be on, so it’d be more indirect, you know.

Well, so there were square neon lights up on the ceiling.

Everything was tiled in small white tiles, even the floor.

So it was actually very sterile, and often it smelled incredibly of urine, especially when you first walked past the urinals to get to the toilets, where most of the cruising happened.

Though I also saw someone kneeling at the urinal and giving a blowjob to someone else, and so on.

And between the stalls, gay men had made holes, because that was hole traffic.

I even once went down there just before midnight and was surprised by a noise.

What’s that hammering?

And then there was this gay guy, after the BFAW gay BSR had closed up again.

The BSR had closed up the holes, but then this guy came with a drill and opened all the holes again.

And everything was going on there.

For example, if I was actively with someone in one of the toilets, it could happen that someone would stand on the toilet next to us and wave a 10 mark bill at me.

He wanted to watch.

Of course I took the money and said, here, fuck you.

On Easter Sunday, it happened that an older man came in and just gave me 50 marks.

I don’t know if he was scared that he would get mugged, because, you know, it often happened that gay men got mugged at public stalls.

And yeah, that’s really interesting.

So like I said, you’d find everything from older men, students, heterosexuals, bisexuals, then the hardcore crowd, all in leather gear, bare arse with chains and so on.

That was definitely interesting.

It was like watching a movie, really.