Terminal, Finally
A new hub in a between-space.
I first heard about Terminal from my very cool neighbor Zeynep; she’d gone there to watch a volleyball game on the big screen soon after it opened and raved about it. Ahu, my friend and plant guru, also recommended it to me; two groovy Turkish girls encouraging me to go, and still for some reason I did not prioritize it. I don’t think I realized what I was missing.
Terminal Kadıköy is a new development under the elevated Marmaray metro stop at Söğütlüçeşme, next to the Metrobus and the trans-Anatolian train lines; it’s nestled in a transit hub that was previously notable for its unpleasant chaos of necessity. Really the whole place was a dead zone for anything except getting to somewhere else. The construction of Terminal had been ongoing for ages, making the area even more unpleasant and chaotic, and having seen how things often get developed in this city, I was very, very skeptical. So despite Zeynep and Ahu’s recommendations, I didn’t bother checking the place out.
The first time I actually went to Terminal was with someone with whom, at that point, we were well past the terminus of our time together— recently disembarked from a long train ride from central Anatolia, and still somehow trying to enjoy each other’s company mostly, we went to Terminal to split a burger and drink a few beers, a pleasant experience until all the recent resentments exploded out from him at me and ended our association finally and completely. And yet the experience didn’t turn me off from Terminal; if anything, it made me want to come back and enjoy the whole place completely, with better company.
Because Terminal is wonderful, actually— beer on tap for affordable prices, abundant food options like burgers or kokoreç or fish wraps, all with the open easy vibe of the food markets that have become popular throughout major American cities. It’s relaxed and lovely and just a nice vibe, and the fact that the whole project was spearheaded by the Kadıköy municipality just made me love my local neighborhood that much more.
There’s even a Georgian restaurant! One sunny Thursday afternoon, I finally returned to Terminal with Bradley to sample the khinkali at Shvili, which was terrific, and check out Terminal with fresh eyes. I’m sure there are people who have their quibbles about it— one new friend said he didn’t like how open it was, which is one of the things I like best about it— but having seen how badly these dead spaces can be developed it in city, or neglected completely, I’m pleased to see that Kadıköy has taken a place that could just be in-between and turned it into a place to go.
Currently listening to: Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are… Black Star by Black Star
Wildest obituary I read this week: “Alice and Ellen Kessler, ’60s Singing Sensations, Die at 89: The twin sisters from Germany, who were nightclub stars and regular guests on international variety shows, chose to end their lives together”
(One of these days I will write a post about my love of reading obituaries… it’s coming!)