After trip to Europe in 1873, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar built Lalezar, the first modern boulevard in Tehran. Shops, cafes and smart restaurants on the street sides, became hipster destination of the time. Cinema and theatre culture keep the neighborhood popularity in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.





Photos by: Roozbeh and Shaya Shahrestani





Lalezar is now occupied by stores selling small appliances, a kind of “Home Depot” destination for Tehranis.

The Top floor of Cafe Pars restaurant

In the 1950s, Lalezar was Iran’s “Broadway” with 16 movie houses and six theatres. In this picture Cinema Laleh (Tulip).

Architectural detail from the Qajar period, early 20th century.

Tehran’s first western-style concerts took place here at the Grand Hotel. Iran’s first prominent female singer, Ghamar al-Molouk Vaziri, sang sans hijab in 1925, more than a decade before Reza Shah enforced the western dress code. Other notable performances included Aref Ghazvini, the most influential singer and composer of the Constitutional Revolution period.

Iran’s modern theatre scene got its start in Lalezar. In this photo, “Tehran Theatre,” known as Nasr Theatre.

Foreign businesses like the Swiss watchmaker Omega had store fronts in Lalezar.

A window that has seen better days.

Ornamental detail of an upper middle class house in old Lalezar.

Street view: intersection of Lalezar and Jomhouri Islami Avenue (previously Shah Abaad).

Cafe Pars, originally a restaurant, appears in one of Iran’s first silent films, Haji Agha, the Movie Actor (1933).

The white scales over the entrance of Cinema Iran.

The historic Etehadieh residential compound, with a surrounding garden, was built in the mid 1880s by an Iranian prime minister. The beloved TV series, “ My Uncle Napolean,” based on Iraj Pezeshkzad’s widely popular novel, was filmed here.

Smooth curves distinguish 1940s-50s architecture from today’s boxy buildings.

Tile work evoking scenes from the Achamanid period was popular in the nationalism movement at the turn of the 20th century.

Art Deco had a moniker in Iran, “Vartan Style,” after the architect Vartan Hovanesian whose style influenced a generation of architects in the 1940s-50s. This 1941 building became a hotel in 1968.

A photographer snaps a shot of what was once the entrance to the Grand Hotel, the most important hotel of its time.

Lalezar at dusk.

Old sign, “Ebtekar,” done in what looks like a Persian graphic style from the 1950s.

A crowded balcony weighed down by decades.

Modern at the time.

Cinema Iran, written in the popular typography used in Iranian films of the 1960s-70s.

Elements of Persian and western architecture were combined to create the Lalezar aesthetic.