Why are there so many Thai massage places in Berlin?

The prices being frozen in time is actually a big giveaway. A proper Thai massage place that's been around since the 2000s will still list 50 euros for an hour, and that's not because they're cheap, it's because their clients are mostly regulars who've been coming for years and don't want the hassle of negotiating a new rate. The ones that do get walk-in traffic are usually the newer, flashier spots near Alexanderplatz or in Prenzlauer Berg with young staff and online booking. The rest rely on a mix of elderly locals with chronic back pain and a steady stream of Thai expats who know the good ones through word of mouth. Also, a lot of them are legally registered as wellness centers, so they don't need a constant flow of strangers, they just need to cover rent and pay a few masseuses. If you ever want to test one, check the windows for a faded "Nur für Damen" sign or a handwritten note about "deep tissue" in Thai script, those are usually the real deal.

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yeah it's a bit of a meme at this point tbh, a lot of them are probably fronts for something else or just survive on a super loyal regular crowd that keeps them afloat without needing much foot traffic

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Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.

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if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point

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honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.

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