Yes. This deserved it's own post.

I once knew a real bitchy girl who used to live here..

In honor of the LAST DIRTY WORD left in the English language.  I love saying it!

Maxwell's Silver(water) Hammer...

Felicity Apt.

Favorable Apt.

Silver Water Palace

Hamit Bey Apt

WTF is an "ongan"

So I found the mother-load of ornate doors on my way down to Besiktas to Taksim in Gumussuyu (aka Silver Water or Silver Juice?).  Anyway, there were a lot of doors that were quite decorative on these very pricey (I assume) apartments.

OK, so we had some technical difficulties.

Computer went on the fritz.  Had to get that fixed.  Thank God for the warranty.  Otherwise karma was gonna do the dirty work of the  Turkish government's work.  Needless to say, I finally got around to adding some new posts.  More to come.....keep bab-in.

It's not a House, It's a Home...

Muhsine Palace

Platinum Apt.

Cevdet Ferit Bey Apt. # 1

Practical Application

Wienerwald (giggles), Dominoes, Dia

I don't think the doormakers ever thought that ornate metal work and glass of their doors would be used for this all those years ago.

At least they won't blow away right?

So this happened yesterday....

 

On the 28th of February, the Turkish Government decided to put block on ALL blogspot sites because of complaints from a company who won't be named over people offering streams of the Turkish Super League games (because, you know they spent a bazillion dollars for broadcast rights on a subpar footy league).  So I was quite surprised to find this the other day (normally this stuff happens to porno sites) and had no clue what was going on.  So in the end of my query, I found out why.  So it was all about money.  So fuck them and their fucking block/ban.  I'll keep posting.

By the way, I'm kinda glad I never gave my money to that company and I streamed the shit out of their games every chance I got.  And guess what, I'll still keep on doing it too.  In the end, only a bunch of Turkish bloggers who wanted to write and share their posts lost.  

So two BIG MIDDLE FINGERS to unjust and stupid censorship.  Because it literally took me ten minutes to get around their "closure".

In closing, expect more posts and this to keep going.  I've been taking a lot of pictures and not doing enough posting.  Obviously this has lit a fire under my ass. 

FIGHT THE POWER!

Back from Hiatus...

Faikpasa Apt.

Not necessarily a door, but a passage...

une porte

In Suleymaniye on the way to Vefa.

Galata

#83

#97B

from 1899, eh?

Took some new photos on my way to the Spice Bazaar the other day.  This was walking down the steep slopes of Galipdede Ave.

Yes, Comrade....

Zenovitch Apt.

It's a door-within-a-door shot, you zen-o-a-vitch!

I've been trying to keep the shots of doors to ones that are closed, but the name of this one was so un-Turkish that I had to take the picture.

More on the stares from first floor dwellers later...

Hyacinth House...

.....but closed for renovation.

Pamuk's Istanbul....

...osmanlı imparatorluğu'nun yıkım duygusu, yoksulluk ve şehri kaplayan yıkıntıların verdiği hüzün, bütün hayatım boyunca, istanbul'u belirleyen şeyler oldu...
-Orhan Pamuk, istanbul: hatıralar ve şehir

TRANSLATION:
...the sense of degradation, poverty and city-in-ruins associated melancholy of the ottoman empire, were what described Istanbul for my whole life...*

What Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk was trying to convey in his autobiographical book, Istanbul: Memories and the City, was a people coping with the reality of a fallen imperial city that was still trying to move on and westernize. A city sort of stuck in the middle, trying to shed that old cloak of the empire while embracing the "modern" western movement (much to the author's lamentation). Still 100 years after the empire's collapse and the sultans now just paintings on a museum wall, the remnants change from an archaic empire to a modern republik are still evident. You can still see old Ottoman mansions, with centuries old stone work and architecture, rotting in overgrown unkempt garden and see that juxtaposed with a ten story "modern" apartment building. You can still see the boarded up old apartment building, with it's character still showing through the dirt and the grime, as your walking just blocks from Istiklal Avenue. This was Pamuk's lament of his city. The melancholy of still seeing what you once were in ruins.

*my interpretation of the situation

The vagabond who's rapping at your door, is standing in the clothes that you once wore.

This old house

Kismet Apt in Cihangir

#30

Cezayir Garden

Mustafa Bey or Mr. Mustafa Apt.

Bengisu Ap.

Kismet Apt.

Tagged Up...

Oh those kids and their shenanigans!   Despite what others may think, I actually think these things are cool looking.  As I've walked around, I noticed that most of these tagged up doors are on buildings are falling apart from, what we Turks call, bakimsizliktan (that is, not looking after them).  So yeah people may say their destroying property and vandalizing, but what's the point if no one is actually cares enough to do something about it (like fix up these places in Beyoglu, I hear real estate is booming there).

The graffiti in the streets is a good contrast (and also something that is there) to the ornate Ottoman architecture.  If I'm gonna take pictures of the pretty doors and the pretty ugly doors, then I gotta take pictures of these as well.  It's what's there.

I may add, they got good graffiti in Istanbul.

Brothers...

...not Neighbors

the BIG doors of Istanbul....

PTT Museum on Istikal Ave. 

Lycee de Galatasaray 

Esayan Armenian High School

Brokedown Palaces...

Locked Up 

Dilapidated.

Lost in Cihangir...

Yeni Gul Apt on Turnacibasi

Gated Entrance....

Turkish Versions of English Words...

Rassam Apartimani.....Do they stil say Apartiman?

From Behind that Locked Door...

Dead Flowers 

Tulip Apt.

Tip Apt.

Pretty in Pink

The Who and the Why?

I moved to Istanbul in August of 2010.  While getting lost in the city, i always noticed the ornate apartment doors.  The more i got lost, the more i noticed how unique each apartment building's door was.  
The name bab-i Humayun, is the name given to the imperial gate of the Ottoman palaces.  This was the outer most gate of the palace.  While the empire is gone, it's mark has been forever left on this imperial city.  
These decorative apartment doors are something unique to Turkey, as far as i know.  Each one has it's own character and style that changes from building to building.

The One That Gave Me This Idea....

Back in August.  After getting lost somewhere in Beyoglu by the Galata Tower (?).  The photo that got me thinking about these confounded doors.