Beirut nightlife
A city that knows how to party the pain away
FEW people know the dramatic twists and turns of Beirut’s history like Ronnie Chatah. Its sparkle, its lust for life, its madness and its darkness – Chatah has experienced all of these in person, and has the scars to prove it.
Chatah has been offering walking tours of the city since 2006, with a couple of breaks due to the precarious security situation. To begin with, he had barely any customers. But he kept going, and more people came: up to 50 for each of the guided walks that he held several times a week.
“I put in the effort so everyone who was in Beirut could join,” Chatah says.
Then, in 2013, the security situation deteriorated again. Chatah’s father, a former finance minister, was killed in a car bomb.
Today, Chatah spends most of his time in Mar Mikhael, a neighbourhood known for its bars and clubs. He doesn’t seem bitter. He still wants to introduce tourists to his city. The tours are the only reason he stays in Lebanon, he says. “It has become a tribute for anyone who has paid the ultimate price for this country” - including his father.
Beirut was once known as the Paris of the Middle East, a jetset city on the Mediterranean. Then, civil war broke out in 1975. The fighting went on for 15 years. The city was shot to pieces and rebuilt. But Lebanon only knew a fleeting peace, interrupted by assassinations, the Cedar Revolution and the 2006 war, known as the July War.
Beirut held on to its reputation as a party town, however. Life is celebrated there like nowhere else in the region.
Beirut cannot be called traditionally beautiful, but it is lively and always in the mood to party. On every corner, visitors can find cheap food, shisha and the chance for a chat. For gourmets, there are plenty of restaurants, while rooftop bars attract those in search of liquid refreshment.
When the night falls, cars line the streets of the bohemian Gemmayzeh quarter. Small bars are nestled in crumbling buildings, and people stand outside on the pavements, drinking and smoking before hitting the nightclubs at around midnight.
The Grand Factory, located in a former industrial building, has a bar, Stroboskop, and a stage for DJs who are playing electro. “People come here out of necessity. They are going out to let go,” says Tala Mortada, a DJ playing music at the Grand Factory. She and her husband set up the club together.
She has plenty of stories to tell about the city: the garbage, the blackouts and the young people who often head abroad. That is why partying matters so much to people, she says. “We have normalised how terrible the country’s conditions are.”
The only outlet is to go out and have fun. “The nightlife in Beirut is one of those really important escapes.” Visitors can join the masses and try to imagine what people have experienced here.