Berlin street renamed in honor of Frank Zappa

Street home to Orwo Haus, a former Communist-era film factory that now provides practice studios for more than 160 bands.

jp.services2 (photo credit: )
jp.services2
(photo credit: )
Authorities in Berlin have honored the late US rock musician Frank Zappa by renaming a street in his honor. Frank-Zappa-Strasse, or "Frank Zappa Street" - formerly "Street 13" - lies on the eastern outskirts of Berlin amid empty industrial buildings in what used to be communist East Germany. The street is home to Orwo Haus, a former Communist-era film factory that now provides practice studios for more than 160 bands. The musicians at Orwo Haus campaigned for two years to have the street's name changed. Eighteen bands, including the Frank Zappa cover band "Sheik Yerbouti," celebrated the renaming over the weekend with an all-night concert for more than 2,800 people. "He was without taboo, musically versatile, provocative, and didn't allow himself to be captured by capitalistic enterprises," it said. Zappa's brother, Bobby Zappa, wrote a letter of thanks, saying his brother, who died in 1993, would have been pleased. "I am absolutely certain that he would be very proud to have his name as an address for so many musicians," he wrote.