Someone turned the dark Alley 50 in Hang Bac st. into a trendy Instagrammble Spot!

This article offers the story of not only the Alley 50 itself but also the whole historic Hang Bac Street in Hanoi.

Nowhere not to be found a street, which given name and resided with different kinds of people, here and there. Yet, are they merely roads with names tagged on cursorily as price tag on a product of a kind, with a view to differ it from the others by means of numbers and digits? They are and are not. Though made of solid concrete and by non-feeling machines, those are not “dead roads”, but perhaps, are brought in a living soul by specific ones who have once made their existence there.

Those streets have accompanied us in the occurrence of many historical events such as the great bombardment of Khâm Thiên, turning it from “the shady street of greenery” to a rough road of rocks and stones; the “yellow street” Phan Đình Phùng covered with the sight of hundreds of yellow leaves in Fall; or the historic Old Quarter singing along our first anthem of freedom.

Hàng Bạc (Silver Street), or more specifically, the alleyway #50 (ngo 50 Hang Bac) is also one of the kind.

As one of thirty-six streets in the Old Quarter, Hàng Bạc has been passing through centuries of ups and downs since it was still once called under the French name Rue des changeurs (the street of monetary traders).

Just until 1945 onwards, “Hàng Bạc” was given as an official Vietnamese calling for the street though the meaning compared to the French one has barely changed. Hàng Bạc was believed to have been built somewhat in the time of Lê Empire or sooner.

Basically, the street is called this way for its historic origin. Approximately in the 15th century, a mandarin whose name was Lưu Xuân Tín, a Châu Khê villager, was commanded by the court to form a foundry in the street. He then invited his family and other villagers to join and they finally came up to opening a foundry school at 58 Hàng Bạc.

Speaking of the alley #50, it is astonishingly filled with surprise when the person who creates the miracle is Scott Matt, a 24-year-old American man. The sweetest thing he has done for the alley is repainting all the flaky old walls and electricity meters, with all the paints and tools bought with his own pocket money.

The second shocking fact is that Scott studied at Drexel University majoring in business, not at all related to architecture or the like. In addition, he has never done such thing for public work before. Thanks to Scott, the alley is now filled with vivid colors bringing a new life to the alley and joy to all residents as well as the visitors. It is just the second time Scott has been here, but what can we say! Maybe Scott has fallen in love with Vietnam!

To see more photos, check the open album taken by Phuong Hoang @Maze Vietnam below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Words by Trang Nguyen
Photos in Album by Phuong Hoang