Istanbul - Beyoglu Theatre Tour

Do you know the theaters opened in Beyoğlu in the last period of the Ottoman Empire and do you know the theater artists of the period?

The first theater building in the Ottoman period was built in the early 1830s in Pera, formerly known as Pera, today known as Beyoğlu. At that time, Pera neighborhood was a place where embassies were located and where Greeks and Armenians, and Levantines, resided densely.

Dozens of theater buildings were built in Pera in a very short time. During the first years mostly European artists staged their works but after a while local artists and theater groups began performing their own plays. This modern theatrical activity mainly started at the Ottoman Armenian schools in particular and gradually influenced Ottoman youth, spurring them to pursue stage life, form companies and perform. 

From the early 19th century until the proclamation of the Republic, hundreds of thousands of theater buffs watched thousands of shows in theaters at Pera. The period is referred to as the “era of magnificent theaters”. Unfortunately, some of these buildings, which were mainly built of wood, were destroyed in various fires.

The stories of the French Theatre, Naum Theatre, Ses Theatre; Güllü Agop, Eliza Binemeciyan, Mardiros Mınakyan, Muhsin Ertuğrul and many more are in KarDes.

Ankara - Flamingo Patisserie

Flamingo Patisserie, known for its fruit and liqueur chocolates, opened at Ziya Gökalp Street in Kızılay in Ankara in the mid-1950s. 

In the early years of the patisserie, a Greek pastry chef named Ilya was in charge of the kitchen. Thanks to the cakes made from Ilya's recipes, the quality of the chocolate and the sincere relationship that the founder of the patisserie, Saffet Hakkı Tarı, established with his customers, the shop attracted great attention in a short time. 

Singer and composer Zeki Müren was also a regular at the patisserie. A note from Müren saying, “The friendly atmosphere is immediately felt, giving you peace,” was hung on the wall of the patisserie.

In the late 60s, Tarı had to evacuate the building due to cracks in the apartment building, and opened a patisserie with the same name at the Tunalı Hilmi Street. 

Singer Melis Danişmend describes her visit to Flamingo Patisserie in a column she wrote in 2008:

“The patisserie has an old Turkish movie atmosphere. It’s as if Hülya Koçyiğit and Ediz Hun are about to sit at the next table and drink their lemonade while staring into each other’s eyes. Let me share what music is playing in the background for you to understand the concept: Roberta by Peppino Di Capri, Parole Parole by Mina … Besides the flamingo pictures, there was a note full of praise by Zeki Müren on the wall. Just like Müren, we left the patisserie very satisfied. When we came out, the year was 2008 again.”

The story of Flamingo Patisserie is on the Kavaklıdere tour of KarDes.

  
Alexandros Angelidis tells about the years when New Year's bread was made at Flamingo Patisserie.

İzmir - Madam Marta Amati

Madame Marta was born in 1902 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and studied violin at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Marta Amati, who was working in Germany at the time, was also affected by the increasingly harsh anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi regime. According to the story, Marta Amati was insulted and attacked by Nazi officers in the café where she was performing. After that, she would never take the stage again in Germany.  

Madame Marta moved to Izmir in the 1950s and for many years played the violin at weddings held at the Bet Israel Synagogue in Karataş. In the book Madam Amati written by Rita Ender, Madam Amati is described as follows:

“When the day and time came, she would go to the synagogue in a car that would collect her and return her home afterward. Red lipstick on her lips. Glasses that resembled the bottom of a bottle on her eyes, hair gathered at the back of her neck, a violin in her hand and her slight frame, she would climb to the women’s section of the synagogue, to the balcony.”

One of the houses where Marta Amati lived in Izmir was the wooden house with a bay window across from Saint Joseph High School. On hot summer afternoons, she would sit on the steps of this house to play the violin, and Rachmaninoff would reverberate along the street.

The story of Madame Marta Amati from Izmir is on the Punta tour of KarDes.