Maribor Stories: “Bricks for Sale” recalls an area of Studenci once nicknamed Maribor’s Bronx. The name referred to the neighbourhood between Ruška Road and Valvasorjeva Street, stretching from the Studenci railway station to Sokolska Street. One of its entrances was beside the Studenci Footbridge on the right bank of the Drava, the setting for an unusual local tale.
In the 1980s, particularly in the evenings, boys would sometimes approach passers-by and offer them a brick, or “cigl” in local speech. Refusing was not always an option. The younger sellers could call on older friends to pressure people into paying, and some reportedly had to buy a brick at both ends of the bridge. This was intimidation rather than ordinary street trading.
The account forms part of Maribor Stories, a collection by Vid Kmetič. The memory of Maribor’s Bronx offers a glimpse into neighbourhood reputations, local slang and stories of growing up in the city in the late 20th century. The footbridge still connects the two banks of the Drava, while the tale recalls a very different atmosphere at its southern end.