Some years after the German unification put an end to that politically odd artifact called West Berlin I went into exil. Even the way you named that city was giving away which side you were on: if I remember correctly, it was Berlin (West) for people in the West but Westberlin or even eigenständige politische Einheit Westberlin for the East German bureaucrats. I will use West Berlin.

Just to clearly state where I came from, I grew up in the American sector of Berlin, aka a part of West Berlin. Still happy to thank the US folks for keeping my arse save and allowing me to grow up, being able to choose who/what I wanted to be.

Google that song, Berlin by Ideal, one of the bands of the Neue Deutsche Welle. If you understand German you get a very succinct summary of West Berlin in the 1980s. No better way to put it.

Postdamer Platz around 1983