zap! © Lilly Schwartz 2012

Sometimes when you walk through random streets in Berlin you can find really cool things. This old sign, which actually says BEWAG was right over the entrance of a red brick stone building just about 2 blocks from here. Bewag was the independent power company that supplied the whole of West Berlin with electricity, for which they had several power plants around that part of the city. The whole company was bought by the Swedish power supplier Vattenfall in 2003. The building with this funky sign above the doorway used to be a transformation substation, but was converted to an administrative building already in the 1970s. Since 1997 it stood empty until it was reopened for an exhibition in 2004 and since 2005 it is home to quite a few startups in the creative industry.

You can find such weird remnants of Berlin history all over the city, which is the reason why I keep wandering along the most remote streets. Berlin doesn’t end with the tourist attractions and that’s what I like about it.