Laleh-Zar Street


Laleh-Zar street is one of the oldest streets of Tehran, Iran. This street is bordered to the south by Imam Khomeini square, and to the north by Enqelab Street.
At the end of the Qajar era and beginning of the Pahlavi era it was a symbol of modernism and art of Iran and was called as "Tehran's Champs-Elysées". Many theaters, restaurants, businesses, cabarets, dish-sellers, dressmakers, cinemas, and famous shops of Iran were located in this street.
Laleh-Zar district was Once the street in which all the cinema of Tehran were placed. The first movie in the history of Iran was shown in the Laleh cinema. This cinema itself was first inaugurated in 1945 and Prior to that this region was once the place of  Mosafa garden, a Royal garden for the families and a place for the diplomats.
This street is also the birthplace of the first passage of Iran based on a western architecture.  
Due to the interest of Qajars and the western layout of this street also many other advancements first started right here. For instance, The first telegram wire of Tehran was initiated in this sub region and since then many things have changed.

History

After Nassereddin Shah's first visit to the Europe, he ordered that a street like the Champs-Elysées be constructed in Tehran.
Later, at the time of the Pahlavis, singers of Iranian popular music like Mahvash, Afat, Ghasem Jebeli, Tajik, Roohparvar, Ali Nazari, Aghasi, Soosan, and Iraj Habibi all sang in cabarets on this street.
Jafar Shahri, in the book "Old Tehran", notes that
At one time, there were 15 cinemas and multiple theaters active there, however today only ten cinemas are active in this street, most of which have lost their popularity.