The Hotel Bristol on Kurfürstendamm has a story that runs straight through the darkest chapters of the twentieth century. The building stands on the spot where Richard Unger, son-in-law of the restaurateur Berthold Kempinski, opened a restaurant in 1918. When the Nazis came to power, Unger fled to the United States. He came back after the war and in 1951 had this building constructed, opening it as the Kempinski Hotel. For decades, this was the only five-star address in West Berlin.

Among its guests was Gene Hackman, in town for a film shoot, who found the hotel unable to provide him with a litre of fresh milk and went out into the Ku'damm night to find one elsewhere.

VoiceMap's Ku'damm walking tours use the Bristol to trace the arc of a Jewish family business, from imperial Berlin to exile, return and reinvention on West Berlin's most famous boulevard.