Laleh-Zar Street

Laleh-Zar Street خیابان لاله‌زار
Route information
Existed	circa. 1873–present
Major junctions
North end	Enqelab Street
South end	Toopkhaneh square
Location
Country	Iran
Highway system
Highways in Iran Freeways

Laleh-Zar street (Persian: خیابان لاله‌زار) is one of the oldest streets of Tehran, Iran. This street is bordered to the south by Imam Khomeini square (former Toopkhaneh), and to the north by Enqelab Street (former Shah Reza Street).

At the end of the Qajar era and beginning of the Pahlavi era it was a symbol of modernism and art of Iran and was called as "Tehran's Champs-Elysées". Many theaters, restaurants, businesses, cabarets, dish-sellers, dressmakers, cinemas, and famous shops of Iran were located in this street.

History

After Nassereddin Shah's first visit to the Europe (which was in 1873), he ordered that a street like the Champs-Elysées be constructed in Tehran.

Later, at the time of the Pahlavis, singers of Iranian popular music like Mahvash, Afat, Ghasem Jebeli, Tajik, Roohparvar, Ali Nazari, Aghasi, Soosan, and Iraj Habibi all sang in cabarets on this street.

Jafar Shahri, in the book "Old Tehran", notes that

Eshghi and Aref were performing their best works in Laleh-Zar's Grand Hotel amphitheater, and waggish ladies with European styles along with tall boys, were going there from the beginning of night, and most fashionable men and stylish women could be found in that street.

At one time, there were 15 cinemas and multiple theaters active there, however today only ten cinemas are active in this street, most of which have lost their popularity.