Beco das Garrafas

A narrow dead-end alley off Copacabana lined with small nightclubs, the Beco das Garrafas ("Alley of the Bottles") was the incubator of bossa nova's instrumental scene around the late 1950s and early 1960s. In tiny rooms like the Bottle's Bar, young musicians refined the music night after night for close-pressed audiences. Its name reportedly comes from bottles thrown by neighbors annoyed at the noise.