Sanlitun's Dirty Bar Street: What's Closed and What's Open

The bricking of Sanlitun's "Dirty Bar Street" is under way. In fact, one could even say the construction's progress is already quite advanced. 

WATCH: Sanlitun Bar Street Gets Steamrolled

Shop, restaurant and bar facades have been razed, and are currently being covered over with a fresh layer of concrete.  

But before we continue, let's clear up some rumors. Not all of Dirty Bar Street is under construction. Only one half of the West side of the alleyway has fallen to the hammer – a section that includes Luga's and Yashow DVD Store. 

Well, here's Luga's: 

And here's Yashow DVD Shop: 

Luga's is looking for a new location, and is currently closed. The DVD shop, meanwhile, is still open. To enter, we holler past construction workers through the open window, where store employees are hanging out. A staffer yells, "Wait a moment!" and rushes outside to meet us before escorting us to a back entrance in an alleyway behind bar street. We enter via a dirty staircase – also under construction – and walk past their old sign, rather depressingly just sitting on the floor. 

But the atmosphere inside is lively. It's amazing, really, how many people have time to DVD shop at 4pm on a Tuesday. Have they heard of the Internet? Anyway, good to see Yashow DVD Shop lives on. 

Other venues do, too – the other side of the street is virtually unaffected. On our walk past, First Floor is bumping as usual. And the construction on the West side ends just by MASH Bar, which is untouched. As are Youth Club, Smugglers, Pure Girl Bar and Steak Cup. Long live Steak Cup!

Anything in 3.3 Mall is also unaffected, which is good for fans of La Pizza (yum) and Subway (why?). 

Hopefully, the current construction will be the extent of it. But this is Beijing, so no one really knows.