Café Josty was aBerlincafé located onPotsdamer Platz. At the beginning of 2001 a new Café Josty was opened at theSony Center, not far from its original location; it no longer exists.
The Josty brothers immigrated fromSils inSwitzerland to Berlin and founded the pastry bakeryZuckerbäckerei Johann Josty & Co. in 1796. From this company emerged the Café Josty, starting at least from 1812. First located on "An der Stechbahn", then on theSchlossfreiheit (now the Schlossplatz square), and finally after 1880, on the Potsdamer Platz.
The earlier addresses were frequented by artists likeHeinrich Heine,Joseph von Eichendorff and theGrimm Brothers—and during the imperial timesTheodor Fontane andAdolph von Menzel. In 1900, the Josty family sold the cafe to the widow of the founder of theCafé Bauer. The Josty was modernized but retained its original name.
In the twentieth century, the cafe became an important meeting place for artists, especially of theExpressionism andNew Objectivity movements.Paul Boldt described the appearance of the cafe in a well-known 1912sonnet.
Erich Kästner used the cafe as the setting for an important scene in the children's bookEmil und die Detektive.
The cafe closed in 1930, and the building was destroyed duringWorld War II. InWim Wenders' filmWings of Desire, Homer, an old poet and storyteller played byCurt Bois, attempts to find the location of the cafe but fails.
The new Café Josty was located in the Sony-Center, only 200 meters away from its original location. It was a restaurant rather than a coffee house, and had nothing but the name in common with the old one; it no longer exists.
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