Kopli’s Past & Promises

Once known for its grassland, the Kopli peninsula had its kickstart as another industrial suburb with factories and worker settlements in the late 19th century. Connected to Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). by tram line, Kopli is divided along the way by a variety of stops. Each stop is its own distinct neighborhood.

The further north you go, you'll find that the people will speak mostly in Russian, and wear "normcore" casual instead of extravagant hipster style. You'll find that some people look and smell pretty beaten up by the hardships of life, while others look like walking billboards for certain clothing brands. At the end of the day, these are all just regular everyday folk, minding their own business.

As you walk around Kopli on a sunny day, feeling the friendly vibe, you may wonder: Where did Kopli's bad reputation come from, and where did it go? To make the long story short: It came and went with social change. In Kopli, you’re about to witness what has happened to Kalamaja and Pelgulinn.

To make a short story long, we must start from medieval times, back when brick production was established in the middle of the peninsula, and where Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). 's citizens grazed their cattle in enclosures. In the late 18th century, a new cemetery was added. The road to the brick factory, cemetery, and enclosed grasslands was called Telliskopli Road. Long gone are brick production, grasslands, and the cemetery, but that road, now known as Kopli Street, is still there.

In the late 19th century, a cotton manufacturer with a worker settlement was built on a hilltop now known as Sitsi Hill, with a tram stop of the same name. In the early 20th century, a navy shipyard with its own worker settlement was built on the very end of the peninsula. 

During interbellum, Kopli was a mainly working class suburb with an active social life of its own, surrounded by ports and enterprises. There was plenty of free land around, ripe for Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). to expand into, with Sirbi Street being a prime example of pre-war real-estate development projects on the then-outskirts of Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). .

The development of Pleasantville was abruptly disrupted by war and Sovietization. The cemetery was turned into a park, new Stalin-ist city blocks north to Sitsi were planned and half-built, while new ports and industries were brought in, as well as their workers. Almost every free spot of land was filled with gray brick Khruchevka. The Russian-speaking Kopli was born. In its park, or on the streets, you could lose your teeth, your wallet, (or both!) to some neighborhood-based street gang of hooligans.

As the old wooden houses decayed into inferior living spaces, authorities decided that Kopli would become the place to resettle so-called problematic people by late 1980. Add in a collapse of the Soviet system and Thatcher-style shock reforms into the mix, and you got a ghetto filled with junkies, winos, stray pets, and a few old ladies remembering the better times.

Back in the '90s, the entirety of Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). north to Baltic Station was on the wrong side of the railroad. Yes, that includes Pelgulinn, Kalamaja, Telliskivi, Krull, Volta, Kalarand, and Noblessner, too. 

Only the brave (or the fallen) ride the tram from the Maleva stop and onward to the “lines” - half-abandoned and constantly-burning former shipyard settlement by the sea. It's a real ghetto for the hopeless. Only a few fools, called visionaries, imagined that Kopli could still be made great again. Sometime in future...

Well, that future is now. Long gone are the junkies and winos. You can barely hear sirens in Kopli nowadays. Angerja's tram stop area, where heroin was once sold, now hosts cafeteria and nightclub “Odeon” for hipsters, as nearby Paavli Street hosts car services, some rehearsal studios for aspiring underground bands, and the largest and most legendary second-hand clothing store in Tallinn Tallinn, the largest city and capital of Estonia (population 440 000). .

The Sitsi stop used to be a gathering place for winos. Now, it has developed into a new neighborhood, one with a brand-new housing complex and some creative spaces. Instead of homeless people, you are sure to spot some young hipster families here, as well as tough-looking (but good-hearted!) working-class Russian men with mustaches. 

Maleva's stop was like the poisoned heart of Kopli: a wide and windy intersection with a bizarre traffic scheme, it stood in the middle of Kopli attracting lowlives to come together. The nearby park was known for being a gathering place for troublemakers, and you would even find syringes left behind by junkies lying around everywhere. 

But as nearby Stalinkas and Khruchevkas got apartment associations to manage themselves, the neighborhoods around Maleva started to slowly change due to internal forces. Liver diseases took out the bums, while the junkies went up the stairway to heaven with overdoses. 

Sirbi was the last outpost of civilization. That’s because of its nearby Kopli Art Gymnasium. It used to be the place for weird artsy kids. Many future artists took the gloomy daily ride to school and back daily. When forming the apartment co-ops took off, things slowly changed for the better. 

From Marati's stop and onward was considered beyond the end of the world. The now-renovated and rebuilt “lines” were originally a real shanty town. Unimaginable Bumsville, mostly visited by the police! Now, next to the park, forest, and sea, it is a dream home for every upper-class Estonian. 

That isn't the end of Kopli’s story, though. As new houses get built on open land, old buildings become renovated, and industrial areas become repurposed, Kopli is changing before our eyes. 

There are still plenty of Russian-speaking babushkas and peasants around, but a younger generation with higher expectations of life is slowly moving in. The service industry is not far behind. Kopli will be the next Kalamaja, though the many layers of Kopli history will remain forever in its diverse architecture and folk lore.