GUERTEL
Two circular roads around the city center provide a basic way of orientation in Vienna. The one, Ringstraße is popular and touristy, whereas the other, Gürtel (meaning belt), is dominated by heavy traffic and separates the so-called inner districts (3rd to 9th district) from the outer districts and former suburbs of Vienna (10th to 19th district). Gürtel is the colloquial name for what is officially called Wiener Gürtelstraße or B221, Austria’s most frequented state road. On its length of 13.1 kilometres, six-to-eight-lane Gürtel road encircles central Vienna on the north, west and south, passing the two main train stations Westbahnhof and Südbahnhof. Similar to the Ringstraße, the course of today’s Gürtel was used as a fortification from the 17th to the 19th century. In the 1890s the famous Art Nouveau architect Otto Wagner designed a city railway along the Gürtel, that runs partly on a viaduct and is now the trace of the underground line U6. Until the end of World War II the Gürtel was a popular residential area with short connections to the city center but also the green and spacious outskirts close-by. The picture drastically changed with the population getting motorized. Quality of life dropped as traffic exploded and the western part of the Gürtel developed into a red-light district. Besides, in an attempt to revive the area, an urban regeneration project was started in the 1990s. The Main Public Library now upgrades Urban-Loritz-Platz and numerous restaurants, pubs and music clubs like Chelsea, rhiz and B72 opened along the Lerchenfelder Gürtel in the arches of the railway viaduct, making the area – at least in the evening – well worth a visit.
Recent Session(s) at this location
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Malajube
“Magique!” With a smile Malajube comment their powerful impromptu performance. The Montreal-based band is the first non-English, non-German-singing act we got to work with. And indeed the list of internationally popular Indie-rock bands that do not perform in English is small. Yet it seems that Malajube have never been really hindered by this. For all those who don’t understand what Julien is singing about springtails (“Les collemb...more ...
August 16th, 2009 - (4 Comments) -
Borko
It only takes a heavy guitar riff to make people turn around. As Borko played around a bit while setting up their stuff in a short alleyway, they soon attract a small crowd of Turkish men, including the operator of a kebab stand peaking in from the back. One guy takes pictures, the others talk about the unfamiliar scene of a band playing in this busy place, surrounded by cars in the back and with trains passing by above them. Just before the e...more ...
January 26th, 2009 - (5 Comments) -
No Kids
From sunny Padova in Italy into the cloudburst in Vienna – Justin Kellam (drummer of No Kids) gets his refreshment from a lamb-goulash (“Must have been an evil lamb”) after their soppy arrival in Austria. He ponders what to think about his first impressions of Austria and makes tongue-in-cheek remarks how “weak” the next hours in Vienna and especially their live show could turn out. It is the first evening on tour in Europe with their al...more ...
July 14th, 2008 - (1 Comments)
