Skadarlija - Bohemian Life

Bohemian Life

Well-known but mostly poor poets and writers became regular visitors of Skadarlija in the early 20th century, not just from Serbia but from the wider Yugoslav areas, even before the Yugoslav state was formed as such in 1918. The most prominent residents and visitors in Skadarlija's Bohemian history include Silvana Armenulić, Đura Jakšić, Dobrica Milutinović, Tin Ujević, Gustav Krklec, Stevan Sremac, Antun Gustav Matoš, Zuko Džumhur and Momo Kapor.

My name is Skadarlija...or Skadarska street, however you like it. I am no boulevard...or avenue...or highway. I am common steep curved alley in the middle of Belgrade. And that would be everything meaningful to be told about me if it wouldn't be for my bohemian history, my crumbling roofs, my shaking chairs... —Zuko Džumhur

After decades of performing in Skadarlija's restaurants and outdoors, some singers and performers became synonymous with Skadarlija: singers Šaban Šaulić, Toma Zdravković, Olga Jančevecka, Divna Đokić, Sofka Vasiljković, Mila Matić, actress Ljubica Janićijević who impersonated Gypsy fortune-tellers, and Radomir Šobota as a drummer.

Restaurants are proud of their lists of worldwide celebrities and epicurians who visited them over the decades. Even Alfred Hitchcock ended his diet in Skadarlija . Often, they post photographs of their visits on the walls. For example, over the years, Tri šešira welcomed numerous famous guests such as guitarist Jimi Hendrix, politicians George H.W. Bush, Josip Broz Tito, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, Sandro Pertini, and chess player Anatoly Karpov.