NYT: Breathing New Life Into Bulgaria's Cold War Bunkers

Klek, or squat, shops, in former basement bunkers in Bulgaria's capital are evolving with the times, transforming into modern shops, artist studios and speakeasies.

Every day for the past 20 years, Lyudmil Kutev has lumbered three stories down the crumbling concrete steps of his Sofia apartment, descended into a basement Cold War bunker packed floor to ceiling with shoes, and swung open a rusty window panel just inches from the sidewalk.

"My father hid here during the Allied bombing," Mr. Kutev said, polishing a pair of loafers in the cramped space and peering up at the feet of those passing by outside. "And in the last years of Communism, he hid this shoe-repair business down here, too."

Below Sofia's Ottoman mosques, Red Army monuments, and onion-domed churches, some of the most intriguing relics of this city's tangled past are lurking just below the sidewalk — and you'll have to crouch down and peer through tiny windows to find them.

Known as klek, or squat shops, these knee-high ateliers and stores are nestled in former storage cellars and bomb shelters, and they're only found in Bulgaria's capital. Today, as a record number of tourists visit Sofia, these squat shops are emerging as some of the city's most creative underground spaces.

Klek shop that has been closed for some time, with potential to become a creative space considering the art gallery upstairs (on the left), Hipster bar named after Spanish poet Lorca that can be hard to find (on the right)

"Visually, kleks are incredibly unusual, interesting spaces," said Iara Boubnova, the director of Sofia's Institute of Contemporary Art. "The fact that they force you to bend down and shift your perspective...