Moving to Munich

September 4, 2007 3:21 PM

Moving to Munich: Help me connect with the German subculture

So I'm moving to Munich in a week. I've got a job lined up, I'm in the process of looking for a Wohngemeinschaft to live in (although if you know of any artists' collectives or warehouses looking for residents, let me know!), and I've been polishing up my German. However!

I'd like some help figuring out how to find my way around my new city. In American cities, I've always turned to the local alt-weekly for basic info on music venues, interesting shops, good cafes and brewpubs, etc. I can't seem to find evidence of a Munich alt-weekly, though, and I'm a bit at a loss as to how alternative-ish types (for lack of a better description) get started out there. A few examples of the sort of information I'm looking for:

-Where do I find listings of concerts and venues (focusing on obscure indie/experimental stuff, not huge stadium-style shows)?
-Where can I buy alternative-ish and/or thrift clothing, hairdye, etc.?
-Where do musicians advertise looking for bandmates (and where can I look for teachers to help me make the transition from classical to rock fiddle)?
-Which cafes and pubs [particularly in the Schwabing/Maxvorstadt area] have the best fare and atmospheres?
-Where can I find non-degree art classes, art collectives (particularly for metalworking and foundry, though a nice silkscreen facility would be awesome too), and even studio space?
-For that matter, where (other than sites like wg-gesucht.de and studenten-wg.de) can I find prospective housemates who're creative and active (the opposite of a Zweck-WG)?

Naturally, I plan to get out and wander discovering the city on my own, but it would be great to have some suggestions regarding where to begin.

posted by ubersturm to travel & transportation around Munich, Germany (10 answers total)

http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/

There you can get some better local tips & tricks.

You'll also find that "alternative" is not the same around here.

As for ads try Kurz & Fündig:

http://www.kurzfuendig.de/

If you are fit enough get a bike - Munich isn't that big and you can cycle all over the place. It's also fun to take the S-Bahn and explore some outer places - taking your bike with you.

My eMail is in my profile for contact - I can give you a tour.
posted by homodigitalis at 6:49 PM on September 4, 2007

A little bit of cultural advice: Your handle and the email address based on it are no laughing matter in Germany. Do not refer to Nazi era army titles or otherwise.

See the first thing that google finds when searched for your handle? It's that an Aryan brotherhood guy calls himself that. Wtf dude?
posted by jouke at 9:32 PM on September 4, 2007

Yeah, I know about toytown, though I was hoping to avoid it - there's a lot of bitter expat stuff on the boards, and a lot of it's aimed at people who seem to want to hang out with an expat crowd and/or people who don't speak much German. I'd rather just be another youngish artsy, uh, biochemist in München, not an expat, per se. And yeah, I'm sure "alternative" isn't the same there - which is part of why I'd love help figuring out how to find it and acclimate to it. [Certainly planning on biking, as well, biking's a great way to learn a city.]

And yeah, I'm very much aware of what cultural things to avoid - I'm covering the flags on an German army shirt I wear with unrelated patches, putting shirts with skull-like designs that could theoretically be mistaken for Totenkopf emblems in mothballs, etc., and no, I don't plan on using this handle/email over there. They're leftover from an old inside joke; I have been using a different name/email in housing-related emails and whatnot, and intend to continue doing so. Despite the MeFi username, I'm not a complete naïf...
posted by ubersturm at 10:21 PM on September 4, 2007

Finding musicians -
Musiker-Board -
Musiker in Deiner Stadt


Kijiji - sort of the German version of Craigslist although there are no ads for musicians in munich at the moment.

I've had the best success at the local music store's message board.

Art classes-
Münchner Volkshochschule - Kunst also German courses
Jugendkunstakademie München

After you have been at your job for a while (+6 months) your employer may help pay for language courses or other forms of Weiterbildung

WG-
The best places from my experience to find a WG are not online. Usually on the wall at a University there are tons of signs for people looking for roommates. Also there is probably a weekly newspaper or something that will be helpful as well. Now is especially a good time to look because the new semester is starting soon and kids are moving in and out.

I tend to stay away from the expat boards for exactly those reasons. There are a many people on those boards who have moved to Germany for whatever reasons (wife, kids, job) and they just can't stop bitching about it. Although they are loud, their numbers are few.

I can't stress enough the advantages and opportunities that living in a WG can provide. It will help tremendously with your German skills and you will meet many interesting people. But since you will be learning German in Munich, you will have a goofy accent which no one else outside of Munich will be able to understand. :-)

Hope this helps. Schöne Grüße aus Lüneburg
posted by chillmost at 1:13 AM on September 5, 2007

Hmmm. You might be too old for the Jugendkunstakademie. If you call them up though they will probably be able to recommend something for you.
posted by chillmost at 1:15 AM on September 5, 2007

So jealous. We lived in Munich a few years ago. It's a lovely, lovely city.

Munich Found is the big English language magazine that I found dead useful during my time there. Other than that, I can't help you much with your specific questions. We had a two-year-old with us then so we didn't get out as much as we wanted to.
posted by cooker girl at 5:10 AM on September 5, 2007

I live in Munich but I'm not into subculture/alternative stuff... however, I think that Maxvorstadt/Schwabing (I live in Maxvorstadt myself) is not the perfect part of the town to look for alternative-ish stuff or venues. It's quite posh and polished and expensive (schicki-micki as we say here). You might prefer to look into Westend or Glockenbachviertel locations.
For all kinds of announcements, there is a magazine named "IN München" which (I believe) also lists alternative/indie events; it is distributed for free in bars and restaurants. Regarding subculture in Bavaria, you might find this wiki interesting. I guess you should check out Tollwood Festival (takes place twice a year for two weeks). They sell lots of hair-dye, vegan food, and colourful alternative stuff there! Substanz is a non-schickimicki club you might like.
Now, the search for a WG room is notoriously difficult and annoying in Munich. If you don't like the usual sites, you could have someone post an ad for you at the bulletin board of the LMU Mensa/Cafeteria (not online, I'm afraid), ah, I see, chillmost has already mentioned this. Lots of creative/unusual WG ads there...
Have fun in Munich and email me with any problems. Use a new, non-nazi handle, though ;-)
posted by The Toad at 6:55 AM on September 5, 2007

My only contribution was to emphasize the Uni noticeboards and to say the city zone you mention is a little "posh" (an Auntie lives there).
Secondly I remember at a meet-up recently a Mefite who shall remain nameless told us of his penchant for a certain US Punk Band of the 80's whose symbol was the Totenkopf. He wore this leather jacket proudly for weeks as an 18 year old in Germany and came home wondering about how cold everyone had been!!

I find Southerners particularly friendly and after 20 years of visiting a wide variety of German cities I would say Germans have made huge strides in incorporating their history into their mindset (in a way I would wish other cultures could emulate) so some of them wouldn't mind your handle, and might see it as ironic, but most of them will think you're trying to give offence.
posted by Wilder at 8:08 AM on September 5, 2007

So it's nice to see that at least some MeFites live in Munich.

Anyone up for a Meeting?
posted by homodigitalis at 8:42 AM on September 5, 2007

Yeah, I'm aware that Schwabing etc. are rather gentrified these days, but proximity to the Uni (mit U-Bahn oder Fahrrad) is fairly important for me and there are a lot of WGs there [at least on the online boards]. I've been searching other areas too, though - Ludwig/Isarvorstadt, Altstadt/Lehel, Glockenbachviertel, Au/Haidhausern, and I'll add Westend (and the nearer bits of Schwanthalerhöhe/Laim) to my list. Checking out the physical boards at the Uni is also a really good idea, I'll make sure to stop by.

Thanks for all the advice, though, some of the suggestions and websites sound very useful. I'm really looking forward to it all.

And, again, the handle is based on an old inside joke regarding the agglutinative aspects of German, and has nothing to do with the Nazi rank which resembles said handle. I have not been using it in emails with anyone in Germany, and I don't intend to - there are certain places on the internet where I've been using it for years, so I haven't gotten rid of it, but I will be avoiding it. I also plan to be fairly paranoid about wearing things that might be mistaken for Totenkopf regalia as well. I may be an American, but I've been getting offline advice from people who have lived in Germany, and I have no desire to be mistaken for a neo-fascist.
posted by ubersturm at 11:30 PM on September 5, 2007