Favourite Places in Soest

I know many of the soldiers made the long trek in from Bad Sassendorf and Korbecke to Soest and attended several of the pubs and discos there. Any favourites?

My favourite was The Palette...bit of a dive, really, with a postage stamp sized dance floor, but it was fun. a few of the 'squaddies' would hang out there and tons of Belgiques (and all things considered, not that many fights between the two). The DJ was named Francis.

Also liked the City Saloon, over by the Rathaus (city hall), but it was a tad expensive. There was also quite a good disco up by the train station, in an old Baroque-style building (now torn down and replaced by a gawd-awful looking shopping mall), that played a lot of R&B, James Brown, etc.

However, it was The Palette that was my 'home bar' and I spent most evenings, certainly all my weekend nights, there. The site is now a surplus store or camping equipment or some such thing.

Come on you bunch...I know you had favourite hang-outs, and probably great stories to go along with them! Let's hear them.

I frequented the Klabautamann in Schmerlecke, about 10Km on the B1 towards Paderborn. Great place, Tuesdays was always happy Hour with Beer costing 1DM for the whole evening. Place got closed down a few years ago after being taken over by the Russians.

Just thought I'd take a peek back at this thread. Kind of surprised there hasn't been more of a response, but there ya have it!

I know in other threads, Soest NAAFI Demolished being one of them, there is a fair amount of talk about the old Milch Bar in the MQ area (also known as Paddy's). It's now gone, as is that whole strip mall along Kanadischer Weg, I understand.

Heading from the MQ area into downtown Soest along Hiddingser Weg, there were a couple of gasthofs. One was Arens (a gastaette rather than a gasthof; not sure what the distinction is). It's still there.

Across the B-1 on Hiddingser Weg and across from what was then one of the Belgian Kasernes was a small gasthof officially called Zum Linden but known to all the Canadian teens as Isenbeck's as the sign outfront advertised the beer brand Isenbeck's and somebody somewhere confused this with being the name of the establishment. Just to the right as one entered the main bar room was a couple of tables in a small corner; this was "our spot" and was known as Canada Corner.

When I returned to Soest in 1973 (having left in 1971) the table still carried the various names and nicknames of a generation of Canadian teens carved into the pale wood. Isenbeck's is now gone and the house in which it was located is now a veterinary clinic.

Tucked in behind St. Pauli Kirke (St.Paul's Church) was The Black Raven (Schwarzenraben). While not heavily frequented by Canadian teens, it was at times.

Up the street from it was The Flying Dutchman and a couple of doors down from it was the Palette (mentioned above).

Nestled way down in the old city somewhere, not far from the Burghof Museum, was an ancient little place we called The Cozy. Judging from other images I have found of famous sites or sites of interest in Soest, what I know as The Cozy was actually the home and studio, at one time, of a well-known artist in Soest. None of the literature attached to this aspect mention that it was ever a gasthof, however, and so I am left wondering if my memory is a tad faulty here although I don't think so. The photo of the studio shown on whatever website I found it on is almost identical to a photo I have (had) that I took of the Cozy....

Other places -- alongside the main Marktplatz in central Soest, where the Wildemann Gasthaus is located, was a small Italian ice-cream parlour called Venezia. there was also on up on the platz just north across from St. Petri Kirche, the name of which I now forget. Both had delicious Italian ice cream...well, actually gelato. Delicious....

Down near the Grosse Teich (the duck pond) was Christ's...pronounced Chreest's...which was established in somethng like 1757 or something. Quite posh but comfy.

I drank my first schnapps at a little dive up from the old public swimming pool called Uelenspiegel....Korn, as I recall. Vile stuff!

Swinging back up to the MQ area and heading southeast of it, over by Lendringser Weg, one came across a very old place called The Windmill.

The actual windmill, without the sails, was still there and lived in by some artsy types including a couple of Canadian ex-pat kids who chose to remain in Soest after their parents returned to Canada. Their flats were all circular and quite bohemian but colder than billy-o!! I seem to recall one young 'hippy' catching pneumonia and being quite ill.

the only pub I recall in outlying areas was one out in Bad Sassendorf we called Die Kleine Mowgli (again, due to the brand of beer it sold). Friends of my parents during our first tour (1959-62) lived above it. As I recall it was right off the B-1 and instead of turning right to go down to the camp, one turned left and the gasthof was right there.

I'd forgotten all about the Windmill. How about Becker's (that place was a real bucket of blood) and the Berghof? I think that's the one you mentioned as being near the museum. The Belgians frequented the place quite a bit in the 50s. The 'Last Chance' was adjacent to the rail yeards . I think it was so named because it never seemed to close until the sun made an appearance. It was a worse dive than Becker's.

Also the Molly Bar, not far from the Sally Ann, which was owned by Lohofer Brewery in Bad Sassendorf and was, of course, short for their brew, Die Kleine Mollighe. It was a very malty beer, but popular. He must have been devastated when the brigade moved south. I checked the town website and they have a Lohofer exhibit in the local museum, so they must have packed it in.

The only water hole I remember in Bad Sassendorf was the Park Hotel. The pub in Lohne and Otto Junker's place on the B-1 were also popular spots, especially for Sunday morning 'sick parades'. (Otto also ran the local taxi which on more than one occasion proved useful.)

Hmmmm...Becker's rings a bell but I don't recall it specifically. Where was it located?

The Burghof was the name of the Stadt museum and if the pub I know as The Cozy is the same one you are thinking of, it would kind of make sense it would be known by something that was close by (we hardly ever called any of the hangouts by their rightful name, after all!).

One place I meant to mention but forgot to was -- oh hell, the name just this moment went flying out of my head -- a pizzeria over on, I'm pretty sure, Jakobi Strasse...

Speaking of which, we somtimes had a drink or two at Das PilgrimHaus, but as it was rather 'upscale' we didn't feel particularly welcome. The proprietor certainly didn't want hordes of Canadian teenagers in the place.

The Last Chance...hmmmm....there was an R&B disco there in 1970-71 that played a lot of James Brown ("Sex Machine" was big at the time) and Barry White along with R&B known as the Sound of Philadelphia, which made a brief challenge to Motown (which the disco also played a lot of), but I don't recall it being called "Last Chance." As for the reason for the name....are you sure it was because it stayed open until dawn? Seems to me, the name suggests a far more "earthy" idea...nudge, nudge....

Molly bar I remember...never went there though. Some places were frequented by soldiers, so the teens stayed clear and some places were frequented by the teens and the soldiers couldn't be bothered. Soldiers tended to want to fight after getting a tad plastered and most of the guys I knew as a teenager, even the jocks, couldn't begin to compete with the sheer verocity of the drunken soldier hell-bent on throwing a few punches at someone. The poor Belgiques seemed to be the favourite recipients of that!

Out towards the Moehnesee, not in Delecke but the next town up towards the dam, was a country and western "road house", or what some German entrepeneur imagined a country and western road house would be. The place was massive and actually quite fun, but of course for most of us getting out to it was a challenge as none of us had a car...I and a couple of buddies went out a couple of times on our 49cc mopeds. Not terribly impressive LOL