LOLA

LOLA is a 450-capacity cultural venue in Hamburg’s Lohbrügge district, operating from a former police station on Lohbrügger Landstraße. Its concert programme centres on popular music, with roughly 40 shows a year by emerging and established artists, alongside theatre, workshops and community events. The conversion gives a show here an unusual setting: the building’s civic past remains the reason the venue carries the name of its street.

A police station becomes a stage

The route to LOLA began in 1986, when plans emerged to replace Bergedorf’s local police stations with a central station at Sander Damm. In January 1989, residents formed an initiative for a district cultural centre; during that year’s local political negotiations, the old station on Lohbrügger Landstraße was proposed as its home. The association received the building and adopted the name LO(hbrügger) LA(ndstraße).

Police vacated the premises in 1992, and LOLA e.V. received the keys on 7 October. Volunteers and staff rebuilt the former station, removing cells and reshaping its rooms for cultural use. The dedicated event hall opened in 1994, giving the centre a permanent indoor base for concerts and performances. In 2017, the Max Brauer Prize jury recognised LOLA’s 25 years of cultural and social work in Lohbrügge and Bergedorf.

The room today

For gig-goers, LOLA offers a broad popular-music bill: pop, folk and jazz sit easily alongside rock, indie, R&B, electronic music and hip-hop. The programme also makes room for comedy, literature, children’s theatre, poetry and weekend dance parties, so the calendar has a true mixed-arts rhythm. Its roughly 200-square-metre main hall can be divided for different formats; outside programme hours it is available for external events. A café-bar adds food and drinks, and the venue has step-free access.