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We lived in Kuledibi all through my childhood.
There were maybe 7-8 rooms in the house we lived in. Stoves were used for heating and we had many stoves. The name of our house was Kuledibi apartement. There was the Levi apartement, Broth apartement. There was electricity and running water. There wasn’t a central heating system for staying warm then.
There was a hill down the street from our house. Today there is the Beyoglu hospital, before it was the British hospital. Then there was Saint-George school and Saint-George hospital across it. Behind it there was the Saint-George school for girls.
There was a coffeehouse around Kuledibi. The manager there was a Jew named Menahem. Every evening, the best known families of Kuledibi, there were the Broth’s, the Suraski’s, they would meet there with their families. We would sit with my father and mother, my father enjoyed the suka. We, the young children played together. Every evening more or less. Our neighborhood was very clean, there was everything but there wasn’t a hamam, there was one in the Persembe bazaar, one in Beyoglu, that’s where we would go. I remember going to the hamam with my father, I was young. My siblings would all go together, along with cousins, a lot of teasing went on. There was a famous hamam in Sultanahmet, they would go there as a crowd and had wonderful fun. I could not go because I was young. The age difference was big. I was two years old when my oldest brother got married.
There were maybe 7-8 rooms in the house we lived in. Stoves were used for heating and we had many stoves. The name of our house was Kuledibi apartement. There was the Levi apartement, Broth apartement. There was electricity and running water. There wasn’t a central heating system for staying warm then.
There was a hill down the street from our house. Today there is the Beyoglu hospital, before it was the British hospital. Then there was Saint-George school and Saint-George hospital across it. Behind it there was the Saint-George school for girls.
There was a coffeehouse around Kuledibi. The manager there was a Jew named Menahem. Every evening, the best known families of Kuledibi, there were the Broth’s, the Suraski’s, they would meet there with their families. We would sit with my father and mother, my father enjoyed the suka. We, the young children played together. Every evening more or less. Our neighborhood was very clean, there was everything but there wasn’t a hamam, there was one in the Persembe bazaar, one in Beyoglu, that’s where we would go. I remember going to the hamam with my father, I was young. My siblings would all go together, along with cousins, a lot of teasing went on. There was a famous hamam in Sultanahmet, they would go there as a crowd and had wonderful fun. I could not go because I was young. The age difference was big. I was two years old when my oldest brother got married.
Location
Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Türkiye
Interview
Jak Rutli