Update: Click here to see who the judges picked as the winner.
When people talk about partying in Sanlitun, they tend to mean the area with Swire Village, Tongli Studio, Nali Patio, the 3.3 Building and that half-ass strip of neon-signed copycat joints otherwise known as Sanlitun Bar Street.
But what about the other Sanlitun area.
I mean the area that includes Rock ‘n’ Roll, Nanjie, Salsa Caribe, D Lounge, Ole, Brussels, Q-Mex, Q’er, and more. I hear it described as behind The Bookworm, or close to 1949: The Hidden City, or a couple of streets east of what once was old Sanlitun Bar Street.
The official address is #4 Courtyard, Gongti North Road. Try telling that to a taxi driver or your friends.
Anyway, I heard some bar owners talk about making a nickname, something easy to use when people refer to this area of town.
“Sanlitun Courtyard” is the frontrunner, but the hope is to tap the collective brilliance of the city’s drinkers with a contest.
The deal: Simply come up with a name, in English or Chinese or both, for this area of town and leave it in the comments section. I’ll then ask a few bar owners to go through the names. If they like yours best, you can jump in a taxi with two friends, head to [yet-to-be-determined nickname of the area] and share this drinks and nibbles tour:
- Brussels: Choice of three draft beers, with options from La Chouffe to Slow Boat, and a big order of mussels to share.
- Ole: Three glasses of Sangria and a paella to share, on the first-floor level that is transforming into a Spanish wine bar.
- Q-Mex: Three tequila flights and guacamole and chips, which should be a nice way to polish off the mini-tour.
Deadline is next Thursday, July 19, at 5 PM. We’ll pick the winner soon after.
(Personally, I like the names “New South Street”, “The Other, Less Shitty Sanlitun” and “The Huxley”.)
机电院儿， ji dian yuan
Taking inspiration from Roger’s ‘ji dian yuan’ the original name of the area, I suggest Electric Avenue
Sanlitun Lite.
1. Tuntown
2. 二lem – If I have to explain this sounds like Harlem, skip it.
3. 三beca – Getting worse.
San li-burbs
Keep it simple for the drunken masses and tourists that flock to that area. Easy to say and remember: NanTun.
“Sanlitun Lap” or “Sanlitun Lop Nor”
I know the area as ‘Nan Sanlitun’.
Even the taxi drivers know where to go if you say so. And that means something…
How.about “Sanlitun Flipside”? Or “Mirror, Mirror Universe”. :)
“The Other Side” sounds OK, too.
walk of shame
taxi drivers told me it should be called “Nan sanlitun”. the name should be known by taxi drivers and that’s the purpose for this, isn’t it?
小三里屯 little sanlitun
The Quarter.
SoSaBa
South of Sanlitun Bar Street
小三 (tee hee)
(I thought of that after seeing yinhai’s entry. I relinquish all claim to credit.)
If it’s right next to 1949: The Hidden City, why not call this area, The Hidden Courtyard?
NanSan. It rhymes. It’s slurrable. It’s almost Chinese.
Go off of the SoSaBa concept.
SoSlt
or SoSltay
courtyard will just confuse people, since there arent really any courtyard. it cant have old names since new arrivals wont get the reference. The name Sanlitun South is already a popular term and it should therefore stay Sanlitun South and Sanlitun Nan jie in Chinese, and maybe even be Sanlitun Nan Jie in both languages.
If you really were to want a brand spanking new name it could be something like:
- Gongti East
- Tuanjiehu (since lets face it what the hell else is there in Tuanjiehu…)
- Soho Bar area
- Soho Bar area east
very relevant post, it is quite frustrating that a name hasn’t been agreed on by one and all for this very cool area.
It would be interesting to conduct a poll to see what people DO actually call it now
- behind bookworm?
- near Salsa Caribe?
- Sanlitun Nanjie?
- Behind pacific century?
sibajie
“The Warren.”
Though “Nan-San” gets my vote too. Short, sweet, and easy to remember.
So… ‘Nansan’ won with this little input?