I was there after you left. 1990. We took the UBahn to Alexander Platz when it finally opened. This was the subway station the trains went past because it was in the East. Armed guards could be seen when the train rushed thru....
Anyway, we (I was TDY at Templehoff—staying upstairs right by the bowling alley) got off on this newly opened station and went upstairs/outside to see the glory that was communism... And the first and only store there was named “International Sex Shop”.
Two little stories.
In the seventies when the Soviets allowed Jews to emigrate our design-engineering hired one of these refugees. He came over with his wife and 3 kids. After the first two weeks he was telling us of the amazing American movies he and wife had seen...on NYC 42nd street, porn theater alley at the time.
When I flew into West Berlin in Aug ‘68, the demarcation between East and West was stark viewed from the air. Red tile roofs, visible window flower boxes blooming, bright green trees in the West and an ashen dull gray colorless cast over the East.
Took the walk along the wall at various points. At one spot across from an Eastern watch tower some AH on the western side picked up a sizeable rock and bounced in his hand. Immediately the Russian(?) Pulled back the bolt on his mg. I boogied out fast. Some people just weren’t paying attention that the Ivans and Vopos were still shooting people along the border at the time.