Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2006, Qupperneq 20

was a lot of fun.
Þorsteinn Bergmann, only few doors
down, was the next place to grab our atten-
tion. I had never been inside this small shop
selling all kinds of stuff for the home, but Sara
says she is a regular.
“I buy all the colouring for my shop in this
place. This store is just amazing and totally vi-
tal for the street.” Unfortunately it was closed,
so I had to settle for looking through the
window, seeing a set of china I wouldn’t mind
buying.
Andrés Clothing Store, a traditional
menswear shop, selling trousers and jackets,
neckties and shirts, all for a laughably low
price, was our next stop.
“The shop will be 100 years old this year,”
the saleswoman informed us as Sara was
trying on a f leece cap. She went on to tell us
that with almost everything inside being fairly
cheap but sophisticated clothing for men, the
shop has its regular costomers who won’t by
clothing anywhere else.
Across the street is the newly opened
children’s toy store, Börn Nátturunnar, in
the basement of Skólavörðustígur 17a. The
remarkable thing about this shop is the fact
that everything inside is made of organic
products: the clothes, the toys and even the
board games. I was getting distracted by a
pinball game when Sara pointed out how
much more interesting and creative those toys
were compared to all the plastic dolls children
usually play with nowadays. I had to agree.
The next time I’m in a pickle over finding a
birthday present for a young niece or nephew,
I may stop in.
The street got a second shout of devotion,
this time from the record shop 12 Tónar. “I
love Skólavörðustígurinn. I find it the most
beautiful street in all of Reykjavík,” Jonni of
12 Tónar told Sara and me as we stood outside
Skólavörðustígur 15.
12 Tónar was founded eight years ago
and since that time the small building, clad
with grey corrugated iron, has become a
popular hangout spot for music lovers who
can sit down on the sofa and relax with a cup
of coffee while listening to the various music
selections available.
“You should check out the new exhibition
inside. There we have collages all made by
artist and musician Sigríður Níelsdóttir, and
she sold every single piece last week,” Jonni
added and led the way up the stairs and inside
the shop.
Sigríður, a remarkable woman in her
eighties, who released her first album at the
age of 71 and now, a couple of years later, can
take pride in a large stack of records, couldn’t
have found a better location for her exhibition.
Still, a certain aesthetic started to wear on my
guide.
“I know Skólavörðustígur is considered
the best street to stroll if you want to experi-
ence Icelandic art, but, in my opinion, the
street doesn’t give the right picture of the
scene at all,” Sara said and pointed out that
there are a lot of galleries selling Icelandic
landscape paintings as well as souvenir shops
with supplies of woollen sweaters and ashtrays
made out of lava simulations but no young
artists showing their works.
“I would like to see a gallery, where only
artists younger than 27 may sell their art and
design. That would make the street perfect,”
she added.
Still we kept on. We checked out the
Art Form Shop, where I found an exquisite
orange-coloured coffee machine; the Hand-
knitting Association of Iceland, where you
can dress up for the cold winter months; the
trendy children’s clothing shop Hnokkar og
Hnátur, Gallery Verksmiðjan, run by nine
artists and designers who sell their products
at Skólavörðustígur 4 and ER Fashion House,
offering high-quality clothing aimed at
women.
Having checked out more clothing and
craft shops recommended for one day we de-
cided it was time for a different approach and
started exploring the eatable and drinkable
parts of the street.
Coffee, Fish and Cheese
“I would like to see more coffeehouses,” Tolli
answered when I asked him what he thought
lacking on Skólavörðustígur. “I used to enjoy
Mokka, and the thick smoke which welcomed
you when opening the door, but now they
have banned smoking inside, even though it
isn’t illegal yet.”
Mokka is one of the oldest coffee shops
in Reykjavík, located at Skólavörðustígur 3a,
attracting a regular crowd every morning,
which enjoys its cup of coffee while reading
the morning newspaper.
A smoker-friendlier place is recently
opened Babalú, located higher up on the
street in an orange building. Babalú has to be
regarded as the cosiest coffeehouse in town,
with old furniture and a homey kitchen with
children’s paintings hanging up on the walls,
this coffeehouse makes you feel like you just
walked into your grandma’s place. Old books
are stuffed in the shelves and with room for
your laptop on the table you can easily spend
a couple of hours doing absolutely nothing
except browsing the Internet and drinking
espressos.
“This definitely will be my next hangout
place,” Sara said, discovering the local shop
for the first time, as I grabbed a cup of coffee
before continuing our walk.
There might not be as many coffeehouses
and restaurants on Skólavörðustígur as on the
neighbouring street Laugavegur, but gourmet
stores make up for that. At Ostabúðin you can
find all kinds of goodies and during lunch
hours they serve soups, salads and a fish of
the day. Fylgifiskar, a shop specialising in
fish products next door to Ostabúðin, offers
the best crabsalad on earth and great sushi as
well. Finally, the grocery store Yggdrasill is
the healthy eaters paradise, selling all kinds of
organic foods, vitamins and cosmetics.
Our last stop this time, appropriately
enough, was the newest member of the street,
the designer store Xirena at Skólavörðustígur
4a.
“I get inspired by the Icelandic nature,”
the woman behind the counter told us as
we were scouting through the selection of
skirts and trousers. In line with what we had
seen earlier, the country clearly inspired the
designers, artists and craftsmen all meeting
in the same small area and opening galleries
and fashion shops. Discussing that topic once
again with Sara and listening to her more
elaborated ideas of a young artists’ gallery on
Skólavörðustígur, we were suddenly standing
at the same corner we had first met almost
two hours ago. New tourists, with their cam-
eras hanging around their necks, had planted
themselves in front of the Naked Ape shop
pointing in various directions and taking pic-
tures of the surroundings before heading up
the street, probably on their way to Hallgrím-
skirkja church.
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Stretching from Laugavegur all the way up to
Hallgrímskirkja church, Skólavörðustígur is
a street so familiar to locals they often don’t
notice all it has to offer and can’t be both-
ered to have a look inside Art-Iceland.com,
Listaselið and Antíkhúsið, to name just a few
galleries and craft shops in the area. A walk
up and down can be a great way to spend an
afternoon.
“I love this street. I walk up and down
twice a day while taking my kids to kinder-
garten,” Sara, who has agreed to be my guide
for the day, says as we stand in front of her
designer shop The Naked Ape. The shop,
selling designer sweaters, t-shirts, dresses
and handbags among so many other curious
things by vivid colours and various patterns, is
located at a crossroad, and it can be consid-
ered part of Bankastræti, Laugavegur and
Skólavörðustígur.
“Every day, this small corner outside the
store is crowded with tourists,” Tolli, the
co-owner of Naked Ape, says while point-
ing at the place were the street sign marked
Skólavörðustígur sticks up from the pav-
ing stone. At the same instant a large red
sight-seeing bus drives down the street with
a couple of curious passengers having a look
through the window. The three of us set out
on a walking tour to explore the street; we
hoped to drop into some galleries and designer
stores, try on clothes, smell baked-goods and
discover shops we had never even noticed
before.
During the summer months, tourists fill
the street and troop with their cameras at both
ends, some standing in front of the statue of
Leifur Eríksson taking pictures of Hallgrím-
skirkja church, others capturing the special
street atmosphere, most apparent when the
weather is good, as then many of the shops
owners put small tables and chairs outside for
customers to relax and enjoy the sunshine. As
it was a sunny Saturday, all this became ap-
parent when we left the Naked Ape shop.
Named after the Skólavörðuholt, where
the church dominates the surrounding, this
elegant street, with its old and colourful
houses, is home to many of the more unique
shops in the capital. The street is home not
only to locals, but to many of Reykjavík’s visi-
tors, as many of the city centre’s more noted
guesthouses are located there. The street
also houses some of the city’s more infamous
inhabitants, in the piled brick building located
right next to the bank Spron. This is Hegnin-
garhúsið, the oldest prison in the country.
Though largely quiet at night, the street
is lively during the day and constant traf-
fic up and down gives it a true metropolitan
feel. But Skólavörðustígur has not always
been this popular shopping street. A lot has
changed in past decades and in recent years
Skólavörðustígur has been reviving from a
slow decline. Many smaller buildings and
apartment houses have had to shunt for newer
ones and the whole structure is rapidly chang-
ing. Things our grandparents once took for
granted are mostly gone as the street is being
modernised. Where now there is a fashionable
designer shop on the corner of Bergstaðastræti
and Skólavörðustígur, there used to be a candy
store where kids from all around the neigh-
bourhood came to buy ice cream, for example.
Luckily, some things are here to stay.
Eggert the Furrier Shop is one of them. His
small and quite unobtrusive shop has been
on Skólavörðustígur 38 for as long as I can
remember, and he sure isn’t going anywhere.
When standing outside the shop almost at
the top of the street we just couldn’t help but
go inside and try on some expensive fur. Sara,
standing in a long coat made out of a bobcat
worth one million ISK couldn’t believe she
would ever come into possession of such a gar-
ment.
As I was putting on a green furry jacket
and a Russian hat, my guide, Sara, yelled out:
“Can you believe I’m holding a leopard?” and
wrapped the skin around her shoulders. The
saleswomen were nice enough to show us
the newest products, letting us try them all
on, even if we weren’t going to buy anything.
We probably didn’t look like women wealthy
enough to even afford a pair of gloves de-
signed by Eggert, but our little fashion show
“I Love Skólavörðustígur”
The most beloved street in downtown Reykjavík
by steinunn jakobsdóttir photo by gúndi
“We just couldn’t help but go inside and try on some
expensive fur. Sara, standing in a long coat made out
of a bobcat, worth 1 million ISK, couldn’t believe she
would ever come into posession of such a garment.”
streets streets3 39