Café Schöne Aussichten (CSA)

Café Schöne Aussichten, usually shortened to CSA, is a Hamburg café and event space in Planten un Blomen with room for up to 500 guests in party configuration. Its defining move is the switch between park-side daytime café and indoor-outdoor night venue: DJs and party crews can use the terraces, open-air stage and enclosed rooms in one site. The result suits shows where sunset drinks, dancing and a leafy setting belong to the same plan.

A café that became a scene address

CSA began in 1982, when Uriz von Oertzen and two partners opened Café Schöne Aussichten in a former old-fashioned local in Planten un Blomen. The café’s early formula combined daytime service with evening theatre, performance and music, drawing Hamburg’s avant-garde and underground into its terrace-and-pavilion setting. The venue’s own history and a Junius account place artists including Lenny Kravitz and Suzanne Vega among the performers who appeared there before wider German recognition.

A substantial reset arrived in May 2009. After a year-long renovation, the café reopened with 400 guests; Otto Waalkes attended and recalled giving his first concert there. The rebuild added a new look built around wood, glass, padded wicker furniture and the terrace, while its organizers set out to continue the musical program. That continuity also lives in the After Work Club, a Thursday series founded on October 7, 1999 and still staged at CSA.

How the room works now

Today’s programming leans toward electronic, hip-hop, R&B, pop and house-led party formats, with recurring after-work sessions alongside open-air day parties and community events. CSA also books corporate and private functions, so some dates serve closed gatherings. A floor plan shows a 179 m² Orangerie, 104 m² café, two terraces, bars and an outdoor stage; the layout lets events move inside during rain while keeping views into the park. Expect a social, dance-forward room with café service woven into the night.