Kurfürstendamm

This guide to Kurfürstendamm in Berlin starts with the jagged, roofless tower Berliners nicknamed der hohle Zahn, the hollow tooth, and the November 1943 bombing raid that cut it down from a spire over a hundred meters tall. It traces the postwar argument over what to do with the ruin, and goes back further to Otto von Bismarck's plan in the 1870s to turn an old hunting path into a grand Paris-style boulevard, lined with cafes, cinemas and a Mercedes showroom. Look down the avenue toward the tower as you listen.