Vila Zelina; the neighbourhood you should have heard of by now but haven't

Residents of Vila Zelina

São Paulo is known worldwide as one of the major destinations for immigrants during the early 20th century. It's said to be home to the largest population of Italian, Japanese and Lebanese ancestry out of each of these home countries.

But while Bixiga is well known for its cantinas and Liberdade is famous for its sushi and karaoke, a small neighborhood in South Eastern São Paulo called "Vila Zelina" gets very little attention.

For the last 80 years, it's been the home of Russian, Lithuanian, Ukranian and other Eastern European families that came to São Paulo to flee WWI and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Despite living in fear of repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship, the community is alive and well and making efforts to revive its home culture through popular dishes, music, costumes and festivities.

You would be excused for thinking this scene was far from São Paulo

Just as the large Jewish and Arab communities in São Paulo get on relatively well, despite recent conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, local residents in Vila Zelina get along very well. Visitors to the neighborhood can find peace and quiet is the middle of this bustling metropolis, shop for Matryoshkas (traditional Russian dolls) or even try Varenykys, smoked herring and other Eastern European dishes.

Identidade SP creates a logo for every São Paulo neighbourhood

You may not have noticed before but although the city has a coat of arms, the neighbourhoods of São Paulo do not. Or at least, they didn't until now.

Identidade SP have now created a logo design for each and every São Paulo neighbourhood. The initiative aims to creatively, rediscover the city through neighbourhood pride and etymology.  It has its inspiration in Pedro Campos, a graphic designer and photographer who dared to wonder what the name of his neighbourhood (Butantã) actually meant back in 2009. Once he had discovered its meaning he wanted to reflect it in a logo.

Soon he began researching other neighbourhoods and creating an emblem for each one as well as a simple webpage sharing information about its history and naming. Sé was the first neighbourhood quickly followed by Santa Ifigênia, Moema, Santo Amaro, Jaçanã, Pinheiros, Itaim Bibi, Higienópolis, Mooca, Canindé, Liberdade, Cambuci, Casa Verde, Pacaembu, Limão e Vila Madalena.

Pedro and his wife now curate the project and look after the Facebook fanpage. They still have a lot of work ahead of them (there are no less than 450 different neighbouorhoods in São Paulo) but even so plan to give a more practical use to the newly created logos. This year they will create souvenirs and clothing branded with the neighbourhood badges so you can wear your neighbourhood with pride.

Check out some of the designs already done:

Renato Stockler's aerial photos of football fields in São Paulo

 

Journalist turned photograhper Renato Stockler took these incredible shots of São Paulo's football fields. All are aerial photos of ordinary neighbourhoods in São Paulo with a communal pitch or "terrão".

A far cry from the lavish world cup stadiums with their green grass and media friendly aesthetics, these are the hardened earth pitches on which you have to play if you are from the impoverished peripheral neighbourhoods of São Paulo.

The pitches symbolise the precious little public space set aside for leisure in poorer districts. But, being less desirable neighbourhoods does not necessarily mean there is a lower demand for housing and, as many of Renato's photos show, open areas are being encroached on and menaced by property development and speculation.

In other words, this is a photojournalistic essay of a Brazilian endangered species; local football pitches.

In his own words Renato explains the symbolism:

"The reddish tone of a soccer field turns into a stage for the resistance of popular soccer. Some of them have their own football clubs, while others are publics spots. Some of them are mainly dirt, while others are of sand, rests of weathered grass.

"But they are a breath [of fresh air] for the hard daily lives of those who live on the outskirts of São Paulo. These fields show the urgent need for public and communal places to practice sports, a portrait of those who fight for leisure in a city such as Sao Paulo"

The etymology of São Paulo’s neighbourhoods

What is the origin of your neighbourhood’s name? 

Below is a quick and dirty list of some São Paulo districts and where their names come from:

Bixiga (Bela Vista)

The saying goes that an infection of the bladder ("bexiga" in Portuguese) was common in the farmland area of Bela Vista in in the late nineteenth century and residents were labelled Bixigas as a pejorative term. Another possibility is that an Italian resident known for drinking heavily at the bars and taverns of Bela Vista, had a belly as round and big as a party balloon (which is also called "bexiga" in Portuguese), so, the area was nicknamed after him.

Ipiranga

Ipiranga comes from the indigenous language Tupi. It means red river which is the colour the rivers take when containing a lot of the local red coloured earth.

Itaim Bibi

Itaim Bibi the portuguese word bebê (baby) was adapted to Bibi by slaves referring to the son of famous doctor Leopoldo Couto Magalhães. Magalhães was also the owner of the Chácara Itaí. Hence th eneighbourhood name Itai(m) Bibi.

Jardins

Jardins means gardens in Portuguese not many of which seem to have survived the passage of time.

Moema

Moema is a reference to a chracter in the poem Caramuru by Santa Rita Durão

Perdizes

Perdizes - Joaquim Alves was one of the better own breeders of partridges (perdizes) who live din the area at the end of the 19^th century. He lived in what is now known as Largo Padre Péricles. Hence the área became known as Campo de Perdizes (partridge fields) and later simply Perdizes.

Pinheiros

Pinheiros literally means pine trees and this because the land which this neighbourhood occupies used to be an area of dense forest which contained a Brazilian subtropical species of pine, Araucaria angustifolia, which incidentally is very common in Curitiba and is the symbol of Paraná state.

Tatuapé

Tatuapé is another Tupi name meaning the path (apé) of the armadillos (tatu). 

Lunch in São Paulo's Little Korea

I recently travelled to South Korea and, knowing little about what I should expect, I was pleasantly suprised by what I found there. So much so that I now hunt down Korean restaurants wherever I happen to be.

Lucky then, that Brazil has the largest Korean population in Latin America and that cosmopolitan São Paulo is home to most of them. Back in the day emigration was encouraged to reduce unemployment and population growth in South Korea. This population has been boosted by some less official arrivals from the porous border with neighbouring Paraguay peaking somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000, 90% of which were in São Paulo. This has since dropped due to the South Korean economic "miracle" and the "reverse migration" phenomenon it produced.

Still there are 3 neighbourhoods in São Paulo with significant Korean population: Bom Retiro which is shared by many other immigrants and is home to the Korean embassy, Aclimação a middle to upperclass area and Bras, famous locally for its cheap clothes (it's no coincidence that most Koreans work in the textile business, one of South Korea's trademark industries)

Here are some pictures from my lunch last month on the back streets of the Bom Retiro district:

A typical Korean meal in Bom Retiro, São Paulo

Spicy sashimi salad

Hard to order tea if you don't speak Korean!

I still have to hit up on Bras and Aclimação which I've heard has some superb restaurants. To be continued...