Sternradio closes, Berlin club starvation continues

When in 2000 No Ufos club Sternradio opened, quite a bunch of known Berlin faces pilgrimaged to self-proclaimed "Berlin's new centre" to be part of a "small, cool and clubby nightlife oasis".

For more than 7 years Sternradio had its home base in the ground level of Alexanderplatz 5, a historic building called Haus des Reisens, a place where in socialist times GDR citizens had to apply for their visas or Interflug flight tickets. A long time before Week12End discovered the building, Sternradio established the "Sharp House" as a shelter of electronic music in Berlin.

That is now history as after the celebration of its 7th birthday on May 25-26th, No Ufos' Sternradio will be closing, more or less slowly - but surely.

While Sternradio's big brother Polar.TV closed in 2006, the small club resisted all prophecies of doom: it survived a near-burning in 2004; also several razzias couldn't affect No Ufos engagement.

Nobody even thought about closure back in 2005 the interior saw major changes and finally a refurbishment. Also there were plans to enhance the club's attractiveness by launching a day program called Club Cafe; a place offering high quality food as well as a relaxed place to hang out.

Celebrating an appropriate farewell party will be difficult, though, as on the same weekend of May 25th/26th the new Tresor (re-branded as 'Modem') will be officially re-opening.

Sternradio never reached an institutional status like Tresor, E-Werk or Watergate. It doesn't matter if this closure is due to financial problems or noise issues, head Karina Mertin is showing interests in new projects already.