Berlin as a Place for Growing Old

Whether in the line for Berghain at 60 or starting a community garden at 20, in the German capital, age really is just a number.

It’s an oft-repeated joke that the only thing that will get you stared at on the streets of Berlin is wearing a business suit. People even wear jeans to the opera here.

The city is well-known for its celebration of different cultures and rejection of restrictive social norms — be it by members of the LGBTQ+ community, to the night club and party culture, or the music and art scene, to the many different languages and cultural traditions of its large immigrant populations — freedom of expression is a deeply held Berliner value.

In keeping with also the - I think more European attitude - that one’s identity is complex and not defined by your income class or occupation - in Berlin it’s not considered strange for your banker, for example, to have a nose ring and wear his skinny jeans belted just below the hip.*

There’s no sense of, “Because you work at X type of job, you must wear Y or must not wear Z.”

The use of cosmetics, also, is considered more a form of self-expression than a tool to di…