Anecdotes & Beer
Mönchengladbach’s old town stretches from Geropark, past the town hall, along the Alter Markt and finds its main artery in Waldhausener Straße. It is a colourful quarter and lives from its diversity: residents, hosts, tradespeople, artists, initiatives, socio-cultural projects, church communities and students form a varied community.
Even the nearby Museum Abteiberg fits into the artistically individual character that can be seen everywhere in the old town. In the historic Basilica of St. Vitus you can marvel at extraordinary stained glass art, such as the Gothic Bible window and unique colour-light rooms. There is a lot of city history to discover on our Old Town walking tour – either individually on your own or on our guided city tours.
lovers‘ lane – Disco from 1971 to 1973
© Horst Müller
From 1971 to 1973, lovers‘ lane was one of the most exciting discos of the early seventies far and wide! Günter Netzer himself got the ball rolling when he opened the discotheque together with his girlfriend at the time, Hannelore Girrulat. The location, previously a hairdressing salon, had room for no more than 60 people. The door was pitch black, there were no windows. And if you wanted to get in, you had to ring the bell and let the doorman look at you through a slit. You shouldn’t be drunk, wear a jersey or look unkempt. Ideally, you had to be a regular, otherwise beautiful, prominent or interesting. All hell broke loose here. Celebrities came and went, and it was not unusual to see Netzer’s black Porsche and later his black Ferrari parked right in front of the door.
The decisive factor for the success of lovers‘ lane was Günter Netzer himself. For he was a regular in his own shop, prominent guests included VfL professionals such as Rainer Bonhof or Jupp Heynckes, and actress Elke Sommer or pop singer Udo Jürgens also dropped in from time to time. But Franz Beckenbauer and even world champion coach Sepp Herberger were also drawn to Waldhausener Straße 55 – incidentally only a few metres away from Netzer’s birthplace (Gasthausstr. 31).
When Borussia’s playmaker moved to Real Madrid in the summer of 1973, it was the beginning of the end for lovers‘ lane. At first, without Netzer, the prominent guests stayed away, then many others stopped coming, too. Today the building is empty.
Since May 2021, however, the façade has been shining again in its former glory after the „neighbourhood“ restored it to its original state on its own initiative.
The lovers‘ lane is back
At least in its external appearance. In May 2021, the Altstadt Initiative, working on its own, visually restored the façade to its former glory with a coat of black paint. But not all passing visitors are aware of the fame of this location. To keep the memory alive, the Marketing Gesellschaft Mönchengladbach had the old disco sign reconstructed in July 2021 and, in cooperation with the Old Town, visually linked the history to the building. This means that Mönchengladbach now has another great must-see – and not just for football fans.