Have you ever seen a street colored in PINK? If you had and it's not your thing, then maybe you will not be interested in further reading or maybe you will since it has nothing to do with Pink color at all :)
Before I moved to Lisbon, I've heard about this street and short after I arrived I went straight there to check it out. Because of the strong curiosity that occurred after visiting I wanted to find out more about it.
Here goes the story I discovered while speaking and questioning local residents and here is the answer how this, one of the Lisbon's seediest neighborhoods ended up in Pink, what was before and how it became what it is today.
Back in the distant past, a pedestrian street, today called Pink Street or known locally as Rua Cor-de-Rosa which is placed in Rua Nova do Carvalho, was an extremely popular place for sailors.
Located in the neighborhood of Cais do Sodré, near the old port along the riverside in downtown Lisbon, it was once the amusement park for adults. It was considered as a Lisbon’s Red Light District, a heaven for sailors, thieves, brothels and... sex-oriented business, prostitution.
Sailors docking in Lisbon for a short leave searching for fun were the main guests in the bars and discos, brothels and sweaty clubs there. Fistfights happened there and smell of violence was always present on the street. You could found night girls on every corner, easily, they say and scandals and cheap booze were well-rooted things there as well. The concept of dark and dirty covered the area of that place.
If you are trying to visualize it now, as I was, maybe it will remind you or it may seem like a scenes from the serial Peaky Blinders or this new one The Deuce. At least this imagination was in my head :)
Many years after when the city flooded a different style of a life, this area was considered nothing more than a “bad” place with an unsavory reputation. As the location itself is attractive and located in the very center of the city it was foolish not to use the area for something better. So, in order to turn the neighborhood’s atmosphere and reputation around and to bring life back there, the city supported rehabilitation project presented by the architect José Adrião. Pink Street’s “facelift” happened in 2011. and converted it into a completely new works of art.
The existing area transfored into a continuous public space, improving the streets-cape with more landscaping, lighting and public art, highlighting existing venues and promoting socialization among residents and visitors.
Creative district focused on trendy hangouts, live music venues, restaurants, cozy cafes and a new kind of a nightlife. The nightlife, however, continues to be one of the major reasons why people search nowadays for Pink Street. The party in Lisbon may begin in Barrio Alto, but many times it now ends around Pink Street.
Why Pink?
The color represents and synthesizes a need for change. The proposal aims to strengthen the character of the place giving it continuity and permanency. The color made a dynamic public space, opened multi-functional way of producing, sharing and consuming the culture. So the highlight of the project, according to the facts about it, is a dominant pink pavement.
Rua Nova do Carvalho used its history as a stepping stone instead of as an obstacle, and transformed the dark past into a bright future.
Once the meeting point for sailors, local criminals, and prostitutes, today work of art and one of the most famous tourist attraction and urban and alive area in Lisbon.
Lisbon’s “Red Light District” is long gone, but the Pink Street left in its wake is brighter than ever 🌞 So cool, right? :)
From Pink Street, with love 🌸
Yours, K.