Istedgade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Istedgade is a street located in the district of Vesterbro in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

Located west of Copenhagen Central Station, Istedgade is a 1 km straight street starting in the cheap hotel district, moving through the porn and drugs area to modern Vesterbro where 1900's tenement style blocks have undergone significant modernization and the street now cuts through one of the hippest neighbourhoods in Copenhagen. It is generally considered the main traffic artery and the heart of Vesterbro.

The lewd part of Istedgade has for many years constituted its image along with the local residents' views of themselves as true working class, united under the 1940's slogan "Istedgade overgiver sig aldrig!", Istedgade will never surrender!

Today, as almost all of Istedgade and with it Vesterbro has undergone a gentrification. Hip stores and cool cafes abound while real estate prices have risen faster than in most of Copenhagen.

Notable cafes and bars:

• Riccos kaffebar (coffee shop, open 9am-11pm)
• Boutique Lize (bar, open wed-sat 8pm-late night)
• Bang og Jensen (cafe and bar)
• Riesen bar, around the corner up Oehlenschlägersgade (bar, open wed-sat 8pm-late night)
• Vega, on Enghavevej around the corner from Enghave Plads (concerts, DJs, nightclubs and bars, including Ideal bar. Open bar most days, nightclub wed-sat till late, scheduled concerts all year round)
• Blomsten (bodega from late 1880's)
• Verdens mindste kaffebar (The world's smallest coffee shop)
• Flisen (coffee shop)