It was a focal point of neighborhood life for decades, until its fortunes declined along with those of its surroundings, but a process of renovation began in 2015 and, after a series of events and neighborhood consultations, it was handed over to Impact Hub Athens, who transformed it into the city’s first social entrepreneurship market.įollowing its full reopening in October 2018, the market has once again become a centerpiece of economic, social and cultural life. īuilt in 1935, the Kypseli Municipal Market occupies pride of place at the heart of Fokionos Negri. It has since been joined by Dope Roasting Co., which offers its own coffee blends alongside yummy baked goods Williwaw Café & Canteen, an architectural delight serving stellar brews and healthy sandwiches on bread baked on the premises each day and Morning Sweetie, a great place to start the day with tasty baked goods, vegan sweets and, of course, spot-on coffee. Kick began the trend a coffee shop meets concept store and creative hub, from the creators of the Indiego clothing brand. In recent years, the energy of Kypseli has been given a serious caffeine boost by a flood of beautifully designed coffee shops. It restored vintage illuminated signage and apartment entrance lights, and created new lighting installations, such as the neon pink Kypseli sign which shines out proudly over Fokionos Negri today.
The group helped revitalize neglected public spaces and restored a sense of security by installing new lighting. The resurgence of Kypseli began in earnest in the 2010s, with urban interventions such as Fotini Kypseli (“Bright Kypseli”), which literally brought light back to the neighborhood. But the cheap rents available made the area appealing to immigrant communities from Africa, particularly Nigeria and Ethiopia, Albania and the former Soviet Union, who helped lay the groundwork for the area’s eventual renaissance and the cultural diversity it enjoys to this day. As inner-city living went out of style across much of Europe, Kypseli, too, went through a difficult period of urban decline and fell into a familiar pattern of depopulation, dereliction and crime. Īfter the 1970s, well-heeled Greeks began abandoning the city center for more space in the suburbs and left their neoclassical townhouses and upscale mid-century apartments to fall into disrepair. After the film, head for a stiff cocktail at Au Revoir, a classic-with-a-Greek-twist drinking hole, run by the Papatheodorou family since 1958. English-language films are screened without dubbing and the screen is surrounded by a mosaic of concrete balconies.
#Cartoon honeycomb movie#
Catch a movie at Stella, a retro open-air cinema whose bright neon-pink lighting is a throwback to the neighborhood’s glamorous, showbiz past. It’s still possible to relive the glory days of Kypseli’s golden era, a time when international stars like Frank Sinatra would hang out on Fokionos Negri whenever they visited Athens. The now-pedestrianized Fokionos Negri Street became Kypseli’s central thoroughfare, as a middle-class to upper-middle-class neighborhood grew around it between the 1930s and the 1970s, leaving a treasure trove of architectural gems, from art deco to Bauhaus and mid-century modernist. Kypseli is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Athens, but it only started to take on its present form in 1937 when architect Vasilios Tsagris began transforming a stream called Levidi into a long stretch of gardens with trees, water fountains, play areas and statues, including a much-loved dog statue which appeared in 1940.
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