Through the eyes of a Levantine Pera

by Riza Kirac
photos by: Kurtulus Gokalp

One of Istanbul's most colorful quarters, every corner of Pera has a different story to tell, and Giovanni Scognamillo knows them all.

Giovanni Scognamillo is a Levantine who was born in Pera, has a memory associated with its every street and building, and never once in his life ever thought of leaving. Known in Turkey for his works of literature, his book on the history of cinema and countless books on Beyoglu, he is, in short, a symbol of the quarter. Soon his latest, `Beyoglu Writings', is going to appear in Turkish, a collection, once again, of writings on BeyoGlu together with a chronology and a bibliography.

We took a spring stroll with Giovanni Scognamillo, whose name is synonymous with Beyoglu, and his assistant, Nalan Soylemez, through the streets of this quarter, once known as Pera.

ISTANBUL'S WINDOW ON THE WEST

"Starting from the mid-19th century, every street name in Beyoglu has a story to tell," says Scognamillo. "But many of them have been changed today. Street names more or less tell their own stories. For example, the street we know as Kallavi Street today was actually called Ravani Street. The Buyuk Londra Oteli stands at the corner with Tepebasi. Before it became a hotel it was the residence of the Ravani family, after whom the street was also named." The Venetians and Geneose had a big hand in the formation of Pera.

First they settled in the Galata area. Then the embassies went up along today's Istiklal Avenue between Galatasaray and the Tunel (a short underground funicular operating between the lower end of the avenue and the district of Karakoy on the Golden Horn). The Europeans regarded Beyoglu not as an entertainment district but a residential area, considering the quarter and and its environs a suitable place to settle.

"Beyoglu is a Levantine center," continues Scognamillo, "but to me there was always something perverse about it, even though I'm a Levantine myself. It was a sort a free zone, inside the Ottoman empire but having no connection with it. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, everything that couldn't be found in other parts of Istanbul, in the cultural sense especially, could, for better or worse, be found in Beyoglu. In other words, it was a window open to the West."

THE FORMER ELHAMRA CINEMA

As a boy, Scognamillo sold tickets at the famous Elhamra Cinema, where his father was manager for a time. His love of the cinema would never leave him, and the books he has written are a virtual declaration of his love for this art form.

We're caught in a shower on our way to the Elhamra Arcade. As we sip tea and coffee there, Scognamillo tells us how Ataturk once watched a film at the cinema.

Today there is no cinema in the Elhamra Arcade, the old cinema having been reduced to ashes in a fire seven years ago.

Scognamillo says that people of different races and religions always treated each other with respect in the Pera of his childhood. "The thirties were the years of my childhood. Living between two cultures was always an advantage, never a liability. Today's Beyoglu did not spring out of nowhere; it bears certain traces of the past. If we consider Beyoglu a center of art, culture and entertainment today, it's because that's what it is. It still preserves that identity. The Christians celebrated when the Muslims had a holiday, and vice versa. There was togetherness."

CENTER OF ART AND CULTURE

As a Levantine, Giovanni Scognamillo insists that he lives on one of the most beautiful avenues in the world. True, there are famous avenues in other cities. But which of them is a place where art, culture, entertainment and fashion have always been so closely intertwined?

It would probably be no exaggeration to say that Beyoglu in this sense is one of the most unique places in the world.

"Beyoglu has always been a cosmopolitan place," says Scognamillo, adding, "There are two forms of life in Beyoglu: one, living and residing in Beyoglu, the other, coming to Beyoglu from another part of the city on weekends. In the old days of course, people didn't parade around Beyoglu in worn-out clothes. Suits and ties were the rule then.

Today's people too come to the avenue decked out in the latest fashions."

NOTHING YOU COULDN'T BUY IN THE ARCADES

Another important feature of Beyoglu is that the arcade culture in Turkey first appeared here. When we began exploring the arcades with Scognamillo, he peered into all the shop windows with the curiosity of a child, as if he was seeing them for the first time despite all his memories. He examined the toys, the knicknacks, the silver jewelry.He explains how construction of the first arcades began on the Grand Rue de Pera (now Istiklal Caddesi) in the 1850s.

"The Suriye Arcade, today's Avrupa Pasaji, was known in the old days as the Mirrored Arcade, and the Flower Arcade (Cicek Pasaji) was one of the most important places in terms of social and economic development. Every arcade had its own unique personality. The Hazzo Pulo Arcade was as it is today; it was where you went if you were looking for a needle, or to have a broken toy or an umbrella repaired."

The emergence of the arcades was without doubt a sign of developing economic relations in Beyoglu. Tailors, florists, haberdashers and milliners, booksellers dealing in books from different countries, and shops selling cosmetics carried on a constant trade in the arcades, which were of course also venues for the cinema, the theatre and other cultural activities.

A DIFFERENT SORT OF FREEDOM ON ISTIKLAL

With its irresistible 'aura', Beyoglu would soon become a regular haunt for visitors, as well as a popular place of residence.

Without doubt this is an extraordinary place, different from Istanbul's other quarters. But where does this extraordinariness come from? From the lifestyle? From the ethnic diversity of the locals? The things that bind Giovanni Scognamillo to Beyoglu are none other than these. Scognamillo sums it up like this: "There's nothing mystical about Beyoglu's attractiveness. A person feels more free on Istiklal Avenue. You can find entertainment in the style and variety you want in Beyoglu. And all those features were there in Beyoglu right from the start."

The black and white photographs are from Yapi Kredi Bank's Selahattin Giz Collection.