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LISBON
by Stuart Haggas
For first-time visitors to Lisbon, the
city can seem rather elusive, but once you’ve dispensed
with tourist must-dos, like taking the rackety Number
28 tram up to 12th-century Sé Catedral and Moorish
Castelo de São Jorge, you can get acquainted with
the real Lisbon.
You may find it hard to put your finger
on the city’s pulse, at first, because Lisbon’s
pleasures are more clandestine than those of other world
capitals. This is especially true in what is currently
Lisbon’s hippest neighborhood, Bairro Alto. Meaning
the “high quarter,” its undulating cobble
streets became synonymous with nightlife in the mid-1800s,
when Lisbon’s indigenous music style, fado, gained
popularity among the area’s working-class inhabitants.
Melancholic and emotional, fado has its roots in Bairro
Alto’s seediest taverns, though today it’s
more readily performed in casas de fado, accompanied
by dinner and folk dancing. Bairro Alto’s oldest
fado house, Café Luso (Travessa da Queimada 10.
http://www.cafeluso.pt)
opened in 1931. The “Queen of Fado,” Amália
Rodrigues, is said to have made her debut here in 1939.
A more contemporary nightlife scene
was the catalyst for Bairro Alto’s most recent
rebirth. The transition from rundown residential area
to Lisbon’s most happening neighborhood began on
June 15, 1982 when Manuel Reis opened his night-
club Frágil (Rua da Atalaia 128.
http://www.fragil.com).
Lisbon had known nothing like it and Frágil soon
attained a similar level of infamy as New York’s
Studio 54. Numerous other bars and clubs appeared in
the ensuing years, making Bairro Alto increasingly cosmopolitan.
Reis has since moved beyond the Bairro:
he sold up in 1998 to open Lux Frágil (Warehouse
A, Av. Infante Dom Henrique. http://www.luxfragil.com),
a cutting-edge superclub in a former boat factory in
Santa Apolónia that draws the likes of Prince,
Scissor Sisters, and Antony and
the Johnsons. Although predominantly
straight, it remains the place to see and be seen for
every fashionable sexual persuasion. His newest venture
is the retro-minimalist Bica do Sapato restaurant (Warehouse
B, Av. Infante Dom Henrique. http://www.bicadosapato.com)
opened in partnership with actor John Malkovich.
Since Reis’ departure, the original
Frágil is not considered as crucial as it once
was, but it’s still a popular and gay-friendly
club. Moreover, Bairro Alto’s nightlife scene has
continued to evolve, and is today augmented by stylish
restaurants, quirky designer boutiques, beauty salons,
and contemporary art galleries—the bairro that
was born for the night is beginning to step into the
daylight.
 Like
every lover of the nightlife, Bairro Alto is a late
riser. Many of its shops don’t open until 2 P.M.
during the week, and as late as 5 P.M. on Saturdays.
For the rest of the day they lurk silently behind graffiti-covered
grilles, like hung-over party girls who can’t face
daylight without sunglasses. The first time I visited,
I made the mistake of heading here during the brilliant
light of day, when my sole companions were two old ladies
pegging out laundry and a group of youths honing their
soccer skills on a street corner. Realizing how unfashionably
early I was, I desperately searched for any retail opportunity,
and was duly approached by the soccer-playing youths,
asking if I wanted to buy marijuana—I guess they
assumed that’s the only reason why someone like
me would be on these streets so early in the day. If
you’re in the market for something less illicit,
like a unique Lomo camera using Soviet-era technology
(Embaixada Lomográfica, Rua da Atalaia 31. http://www.lomografiaportugal.com),
a pair of ultra-rare special edition Adidas Original
sneakers (Sneakers Delight, Rua do Norte 30-32. http://www.sneakersdelight.pt),
or a stretchy neoprene laptop “e-condom” (Crumpler,
Rua do Norte 20-22. http://www.crumpler.pt),
then you’re in the right place. You just need to
adjust your watch to Bairro Alto time.
The Adjacent Chiado area is another
neighborhood to explore during the day. Operating since
1905, Café A Brasileira (Rua Garrett 120) is
a great coffee pitstop, and something of a gay hangout
in the early evening. Although its carved and panelled
wood interior is magnificent, camera-touting tourists
tend to covet the outdoor seating. Nearby is the flagship
store of Brazilian designer brand Osklen (Rua do Carmo
9. http://www.osklen.com),
while the vast fnac store in the Armazéns do
Chiado shopping mall carries an extensive array of Brazilian
samba and MPB CDs—illustrating how much of an influence
Brazil has on modern Lisbon.
Continued
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