Tangier, from Anthony Bourdain to the Beats

Remanent of the glory days of Tangier, Morocco

Tangier, Morocco

While In Marrakesh and before traveling down to Tangier I watched Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown first season episode on Morocco. He produced a wonderful cast of characters to interview – almost all of whom have lived in Tangier during what many, including Anthony Bourdain, think of as the golden age of Tangier – the 60’s and 70’s. The expats were eccentric and charming, the interviews peppered with anecdotes of life in Tangier in a bygone era…it was a great introduction to my next stop. Bourdain is one of the many wildly creative people who have made the pilgrimage to this city by the sea to find inspiration, enlightenment, or escape.

When I told my friend Julie, a Brit who has lived in Spain for a great many years, that I was heading to Tangier after visiting Marrakesh, she commented, “We don’t like Tangiers.” I could not figure if she was speaking for all British people living in Spain or if she was simply using the “Royal We.” It didn’t matter, because I had wanted to visit Tangier for a great many years. Like Anthony Bourdain, I’m an avid reader of the famous writers in Tangier,  those from the golden age: Bowles, Burroughs, Kerouac, etc.

Gran Cafe de Paris home to famous writers in Tangier

On my first afternoon walking down the Boulevard Pasteur (a.k.a.), Le Boulevard with its decaying Art Deco buildings and souvenir shops, I stopped in at the Gran Cafe de Paris for a coffee. This is one of the classic Gallic cafes from the 20’s and a favorite of the Beats. Today, the older generation of Moroccans and longtime foreign residents lounge around on banquettes once occupied by Tennessee Williams and Jean Genet. It faces the Place de France and is across from the French Embassy, which often host  interesting exhibits in its cultural center. The cafe, which opened its doors in 1927, is the most famous along the boulevard. It was even used as a setting for the movie The Bourne Ultimatum. While sitting there sipping the strong dark Moroccan coffee, I imagined a time when this cafe was the main gathering spot for the literati of Tangier and of the city – its location, history, and mythology.

Tangier is a city poised on the edge. It is located at the northernmost tip of Africa, just nine miles across the Straights of Gibraltar from Europe and overlooking both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Tangier is more than a destination.  It is an escape.  William S. Burroughs called it the “interzone” and it has attracted spies, outlaws, and outcast for centuries. This is where men and women have lived and worked at the outer edge of art, sexuality, social norms, and literary history. It seems you can be anyone in Tangiers. You can remake yourself, rewrite your backstory, or simply start over.

A turnaround city with great cannabis!

Tangier, founded in the 5th century, has always been a crossroad of cultures. It has been ruled by Carthaginians, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, English, Spaniards, and then in the 20th century by European powers as a loosely policed International Zone. In the 1950’s it was the last utopia of permissiveness, a place where.  visitors could stay as long as they liked without bureaucratic interference.  Where some of the best cannabis in the world (from the Riff mountains, called Kif) was available and consumed in the cafes of the Medina. Unfortunately, from it’s heyday in the 20’s and 30’s it became a seedy has-been in the 70’s. Today, however, it is undergoing a turnaround. A new port has been constructed, monuments and museums are getting facelifts, the first high speed train in Africa is being built, and boutique hotels and trendy restaurants are sprouting up in the Medina and the old Colonial neighborhoods.

Each wave of foreigners has added layers to the city.  As you walk through its winding streets today you will often come upon a place where the layers have peeled back or rotted away…abandoned movie palaces, dated cafes where time has stood still. Surprises abound! Luminous sea light glances off the citie’s white walls and it is not difficult to imagine that you have stepped into a work of fiction populated by Paul Bowles, Jean Genet or Somerset Maugham characters.

Paul Bowles, one of the most famous writers in Tangier.

American Legation Courtyard

On one of my walks around the Medina I headed to the American Legation. This building, built in an elaborate Moorish style, was given to the U.S. Government in 1821 by Sultan Moulay Suliman. It is the first property acquired abroad by the US and Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States after the War of Independence. The Legation and Consulate occupied the building for 140 years but it closed in 1956, after Rabat became the diplomatic center. It is the only building outside of the U.S. to be on the Registry of Historic Places and have National Historic Landmark Status. Today it is the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies and it houses a interesting collection of historical memorabilia – portraits and photographs documenting the 140 year history. There is a permanent collection of expat artists, a research library, and an exhibition space for contemporary art which are all  worth a visit.

Paul Bowles literary lion of Tangiers

However, it was the Paul Bowles wing that captured my attention. The two- room collection contains musical scores, first editions of his books, many now sadly out of print, and photos and memorabilia of his interesting and exotic life. Bowles was the definitive Tangier Expat — bisexual and a lifelong Kif user, he was the enigmatic exile who personified this “city on the edge.” He first came to Tangier in 1931 on Gertrude Stein’s recommendation. He settled there in 1947 and remained for another 52 years. Paul Bowles’ little apartment up beyond Mohamed V Mosque was the center of it all. Make a list of the most daring writers of the last century and most of them spent time with Bowles in Tangier: Tennessee Williams, Patricia Highsmith, Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, William Burroughs — the list of famous writers in Tangier goes on. I had first encountered a reference to Bowles when I read the Beats in the early 70’s and biographies of Jack Kerouac and Ginsberg. I was fascinated by this man’s life and his intersection with many of the literary giants of the 20th century.

Then there is Bowles’ wife to consider…Jane Bowles…a novelist, playwright, and volatile personality. She was the model for the main character in Paul Bowles, masterpiece, “Sheltering Sky.” A reading of their marriage and relationship is like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf times ten. If you would like to read about the marriage click on the highlighted Sally Bowles for the full story. Be prepared, as it is like driving by a fatal traffic accident on the highway…you want to avert your eyes but just can’t. For many of us Paul Bowles and Tangier are inexorably intertwined – an indelible part of the mythology of Tangiers.

A quiet spot in Ville Nouvelle.

English Church Cemetery

On my last afternoon in Tangier I walked through the Ville Nouvelle section of the city and stumbled upon The English Church. It is really the Church of St. Andrew,  a very quirky Anglican church indeed.  Consecrated in 1905, is was built in the Moorish style. The altar is entered through a Moorish arch and the Lord’s Prayer is on a plaque in Arabic, while quotes from the Koran appear across the Moorish styled walls. However, it was the churchyard I found most intriguing, with it collection of gravestones of English gentry, diplomats, and the military. The newer gravestones for 13 RAF pilots and ground crew killed in a single raid on the city during WWII was the most touching. The heartfelt epitaphs placed on the stones by long grieving relatives made me think that nothing much has changed – parents and spouses still weep for those loved ones lost in senseless wars. It is a garden of sweet remembrances and worth a stop on your walk.

All in all, I loved Tangier. But I feel I have barely scratched the surface and I’m sure another visit is called for. Perhaps a few months to really get an insight into the essence of Tangier and discover what kept Paul Bowles engaged for over 50 years.