West, the ‘trendy area’, via Hardbrücke station, where much
has been made of the city’s post-industrial legacy. The Freitag
shop (
freitag.ch
)
is as famous for its building – a tower of
graffiti-daubed shipping containers – as for its trademarked
bags made from coloured tarpaulins: a must-have item for
the stylish Zürcher. Next door, the Viaduckt (
im-viadukt.ch
)
is a shopping centre housed in the high, brick arches of the
old railway, where über-trendy shops sell such first-world
essentials as pomegranate-dyed denim jeans and oyster-
shucking knives at 200-odd Swiss francs a pop.
Still, if it wasn’t for the eye-watering prices, you could be
in Berlin or Amsterdam, the alternative capitals of Europe.
On weekends, Zürich’s hipsters head to the warehouse
area by the highway here for handmade fixie bikes, vintage
furniture at Bogen 33 (
bogen33.ch
)
and cocktails at massive
open-air bar Frau Gerold’s Garten (
fraugerold.ch
) –
tented
in winter – where outré seating includes an old cable-car
carriage complete with stuffed bird of prey and disco ball.
This isn’t how the world sees Zürich. The traditional
vision is of a stuffy, conservative enclave, where closely
guarded reserves aren’t just the preserve of its banks,
but a way of life. If the city’s profile was once that of a
buttoned-up
hausfrau
,
then an embracing of modernity
and a loosening of attitudes has led to her lifting her skirts a
centimetre or two, revealing a saucy character underneath.
In the summer,
badis
(
lido bars) – crop up on the lake
and various waterways, and a DIY party scene thrives in the
suburbs, away from the high-priced bars of the central areas.
This new cosmopolitanism comes at least partly thanks
to a high proportion of migrants from all over the world,
leading to a new liberalism and what has been called a “brain
gain”. Not that this immigration is universally applauded.
Expats tell tales of parties closed down by rule-happy
neighbours, of futile attempts at friendship and even election
rallies from the right where the slogan is “
ausländers raus
!”
(
foreigners out!). But most Swiss people – and all I meet – are
embracing the big ‘fondue pot’ the city has become.
“
I love Zürich because you can meet people frommany
different places,” says Dominik, a 29-year-old Swiss
couchsurfer who I meet for coffee. “Spending time with
just Swiss people is boring.” Even talking to me is against
traditional Swiss reserve, I joke, but he nods gravely. “Things
are changing, but slowly.”
Keen to showme the city’s lively side, Dominik points
me in the direction of Langstrasse, which apparently “has
everything you want”. I soon discover this is the red-light
district, and – timidly venturing through a back alley where
ladyboys pout in doorways, and past smoky windows that
Fig 4
Follow the rules
A DIY party scene thrives in the suburbs, away from
the high-priced bars of the central areas
A. Kiss three times
B. Cook rösti
C. Forget the clichès
T H E C H A L L E N G E
Z U R I C H
0 5 6
