By Claudia von Duehren
No celebrity came past his booth. At currywurst legend Klaus-Peter Bier (83), the hungry stars stood in line at night. Now the owner of the legendary snack bar “Kudamm 195” has passed away.
“My father fell asleep peacefully on July 2nd,” says Gregor Bier (49) to the BZ
Laus-Peter Bier (left) and son Gregor in the snack bar. The celebrities usually came in the evening Photo: Private
Since 1997 he and his father have been selling currywurst on the Kudamm. His regular guests included Berlin veterans such as actor Harald Juhnke (1929-2005) and playboy Rolf Eden (92). “Juhnke always took a sausage and a beer, and his son Oliver is often our guest,” reveals Gregor Bier. Rolf Eden enjoyed the sausage with the homemade sauce for lunch, even though he was “constantly on a diet”.
It goes without saying that Berlin’s former mayors Eberhard Diepgen (80, CDU) and Klaus Wowereit (68, SPD) also loved the Bude am Kudamm and were happy to take prominent guests of the city here. Wowi donated a crisp curry to tennis star Boris Becker (54).
A beer for three. Klaus Wowereit, Gregor Bier and Boris Becker Photo: Peter Bischoff/Getty Images
But stars from afar also followed the call of the famous sausage. The magicians Siegfried and Roy came to Kudamm 195 from Las Vegas and were thrilled. Even the first wife of the Persian Shah, Farah Diba (83), enjoyed the Berlin specialty – accompanied by the BZ, by the way!
The magicians Siegfried and Roy conjured the curry away – in their stomachs Photo: Private
Born in Berlin, Klaus-Peter Bier opened his snack bar in the mid-1960s in the corner building at Kurfürstendamm 185. “Back then he bought from the same sausage supplier as the Berlin currywurst inventor Herta Heuwer,” says Gregor Bier.
The cult snack bar at Kudamm 195 with its standing tables Photo: Ufuk Ucta
It wasn’t long before Klaus-Peter Bier am Kudamm was selling twice as many sausages as Heuwer on the corner of Kantstrasse and Wilmersdorfer Strasse – with a glass of champagne to go with it.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
But in December 1989, a fire destroyed Klaus-Peter Bier’s popular snack bar. In the boarding house above the curry booth, a guest had fallen asleep with a cigarette. The old building burned down completely, ten people died. Klaus-Peter Bier was only able to save his cash register with the small change. “A year later we moved ten houses down to number 195. Today we are the oldest tenants there on the whole Kudamm,” reports Gregor Bier.
Alpine rocker Andreas Gabalier enjoyed the curry at Gregor Bier Photo: Private
His father stood by his side until the end. Incidentally, the senior himself preferred the home-made meat skewer with the hot sauce based on the family recipe.
