Bliss Street: A Rich Street that Should Be Alive at All Times…

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Visiting Bliss on a Saturday night, I was amazed to find a street that was fast asleep. Understandable since it’s packed with students all day… but why not have it more active all the time, day and night and weekends. It’s an amazing street where a lot of history hides behind every stone and every corner… Why should it only be a university street? Dozens of restaurants are lined up one next to the other waiting to welcome Lebanon’s youth. Let’s make a change…

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Bliss Street, or Rue Bliss, is one of the principal streets of Hamra area, which is within the Ras Beirut District of Beirut. The street, which is parallel to Hamra Street, runs east-west, connecting with Rue Clémenceau on the east and ending at Avenue General Charles de Gaulle that runs along the coast of the Mediterranean. The street is named after Dr. Daniel Bliss, an American missionary who founded the American University of Beirut. Prior to the mid-1960s, the tram passed along Bliss Street and stopped in front of AUB’s Main Gate and Faysal’s restaurant.

Bliss Street is bordered on one side by the historic campus of AUB and on the other side it is lined with many historical and commercial buildings that house cafes, restaurants, pubs as well as bookstores. Bliss Street has one of the largest concentration of restaurants in Beirut, such as Zaatar W Zeit, Mc Donald’s and Bliss House, that cater to the university students who hang out on the street.

Let’s plan a week-end revival of Bliss street:

Bliss should be the street of all students, not only the AUB ones
Let’s imagine a pedestrian street every weekend where youngsters, teenagers and university students can meet
A street revived with the new generation
Eat on Bliss street and continue dancing in Makdessi street
The street can be rented with shops, cupcakes parlors, ice cream dispensers… Just fun

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