The Yellow Submarine, also called Haifischdisko ("Shark disco"), opened on April 2, 1971 as part of a complex that was completed in 1973 with the avant-garde Schwabylon shopping and leisure centre.

The Yellow Submarine was located south of the Schwabylon and became a bestseller for the adjoining hotel.

[1][2] The three-storey nightclub was surrounded by an aquarium like a diving bell, through portholes the patrons could watch 36 sharks and giant turtles that had been caught in the Gulf of Mexico and swam here in 650,000 litres (171,711 gallons) of seawater.

As it was Sunday morning and the club was empty nobody was hurt, and the sharks could swim in all three floors of the discotheque.

[6] The interior design of the club was reminiscent of a submarine, with leather seats, iron railings and a staircase connecting three floors in an open, nine-metre high space.