Oh Won't You Take Me to, Funky Town!
Google Earth Locations for this Misadventure
Last night Cumhur took me out to Taksim with a friend of his. I thought I had my fill of crazy drivers in taxies, but last night was another experience all together. We went from steep climbs on one way streets to four lane sprawls with busses angrily cutting off taxies and men pulling hand carts of trash much larger than themselves. We were driving up one of the main lanes leading to Taksim Square when a friend who came along with us asked me, "Do you know this street?" Yes, I did, it leads to Taksim Square, the AKM was right ahead. He just laughed, "No no, this is where all the transvestites in Istanbul are. You be careful here."
The plan for the evening was to hear some Spanish guitar at the Rio Brave restaurant and bar. The place is all wood paneled with a real Godfather / mafioso feeling. And in every free corner and space on the walls a piece of American pop culture could be found. Most of it seemed to be from mid seventies and back, large pictures of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and older things like vintage adds for coca-cola and colt pistols. We sat next to that famous photograph of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands.
Taksim is under reconstruction after the first go at it, apparently the governing body did not like how the first renovation turned out, so the heavy equipment is back in action! The road we drove up to parking garage was all broken apart and everywhere crews were creeping along the broken paths, laying mortar and bricks, or raking asphalt. At least the main pedestrian street in Taksim is finished. The first time I went there it was a mud-slick.
Last night Cumhur took me out to Taksim with a friend of his. I thought I had my fill of crazy drivers in taxies, but last night was another experience all together. We went from steep climbs on one way streets to four lane sprawls with busses angrily cutting off taxies and men pulling hand carts of trash much larger than themselves. We were driving up one of the main lanes leading to Taksim Square when a friend who came along with us asked me, "Do you know this street?" Yes, I did, it leads to Taksim Square, the AKM was right ahead. He just laughed, "No no, this is where all the transvestites in Istanbul are. You be careful here."
The plan for the evening was to hear some Spanish guitar at the Rio Brave restaurant and bar. The place is all wood paneled with a real Godfather / mafioso feeling. And in every free corner and space on the walls a piece of American pop culture could be found. Most of it seemed to be from mid seventies and back, large pictures of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and older things like vintage adds for coca-cola and colt pistols. We sat next to that famous photograph of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands.
Taksim is under reconstruction after the first go at it, apparently the governing body did not like how the first renovation turned out, so the heavy equipment is back in action! The road we drove up to parking garage was all broken apart and everywhere crews were creeping along the broken paths, laying mortar and bricks, or raking asphalt. At least the main pedestrian street in Taksim is finished. The first time I went there it was a mud-slick.
posted by Alex Gray at 16:32
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home