Maier Gustl beer garden, Frankfurt, 1956

 
Maier Gustl's
Maier Gustl's
Maier Gustl orchestra mid-1950s
Maier Gustl, Frankfurt's rowdiest beer joint, on Münchener Straße 57 about a block east of the Hauptbahnhof. Empty in the photo but usually packed with boisterous drinkers, both German and American, with a Bavarian oompah band on the stage. Maier Gustl was a franchise dating back to 1926. The men's facilities ("Buam") included an enormous porcelein appliance with handlebars just for throwing up in ("for sea­sickness"); I wonder if the ladies room ("Dirndl") had one too... In the arcade facing the Bahnhof between Karlstraße and Mainzer Land­straße there was a "Little Maier Gustl's", a perfectly calm and sedate little restaurant with an excellent Ochsens­chwanz­suppe. Both are gone now (2020); Google Maps shows "Latin Place Chango Disco Restaurant Cocktailbar" where Big Maier Gustl's was, and some airline ticket offices where Little Maier Gustl's was. A new and apparently less rowdy version of Big Maier Gustl's opened in 2016 as Meier Gustl Bayrisches-Hessisches Wirtshaus-Gastropub at Gotenstraße 36 in Höchst/Unter­liederbach; I don't know if it's a descendent of the original or a tribute to it (note subtle difference in spelling). By the way, Big Maier Gustl's featured not only Oompah music but also other kinds, including an appearance by country singer Jim Reeves ("Four Walls") during his tour of US Army bases in Germany in 1957.