Marine Drive, Mumbai

Marine Drive is a 3.6-kilometre-long Promenade along the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road in Mumbai, India. Often, the names Marine Drive and Mareens(Aliya) are used interchangeably to refer to this 3.9km stretch. The road and promenade were constructed by late philanthropist Bhagojisheth Keer and Pallonji Mistry. It is a 'C'-shaped six-lane concrete road along the coast of a natural bay. At the northern end of Marine Drive is Girgaon Chowpatty and the adjacent road along links Nariman Point at southern tip to Babulnath and Malabar Hill at northern tip. Marine Drive is situated on reclaimed land facing west-south-west. Marine Drive is also known as the Queen's Necklace because, when viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the street lights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace.

Marine Drive Queen's Necklace
Promenade
Southern tip of Marine Drive at Nariman Point, Air India building (left), Trident-Oberoi Hotel (centre) and NCPA Residential Complex (right) buildings
Marine Drive Location in Mumbai
Coordinates: 18.944°N 72.823°E / 18.944; 72.823
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District	Mumbai City
City	Mumbai
Government
• Type	Municipal Corporation
• Body	Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (MCGM)
Languages
• Official	Marathi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)

Marine Drive in the evenings

Marine Drive from Malabar Hills

The official name for this road, though rarely used, is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road. The promenade is lined with palm trees. At the northern end of Marine Drive is Chowpatty Beach. This is a popular beach famed for its Bhel Puri (local fast food). Many restaurants also line this stretch of the road. Further down this road lies Walkeshwar, a wealthy neighborhood of the city, also home to the Governor of Maharashtra.

Most of the buildings erected by wealthy Parsis were constructed in an art deco style, which was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Among the earliest art deco buildings on Marine Drive were the Kapur Mahal, Zaver Mahal and Keval Mahal, built between 1937 and 1939 for a total cost of 1 million rupees.[1]

Real estate prices along the Esplanade are high. Many hotels dot the drive, most prominent among them being the 5-star Oberoi (formerly the Oberoi Hilton Tower however reverted to the original name as of early 2008), The Intercontinental, Hotel Marine Plaza, Sea Green Hotel and a few other smaller hotels. Marine Drive is the preferred connecting road between the central business district located at Nariman Point and the rest of the city.

Many Sports Clubs are also situated along the stretch of Marine Drive, including members-only clubs like the Cricket Club of India, adjoining the Brabourne Stadium, and Garware Club House, adjacent to the famous Wankhede Stadium, as well as others like the Mumbai Police Gymkhana, P. J. Hindu Gymkhana and Islam Gymkhana.

Former singing superstar of the 1950s Suraiya lived in a building on the stretch known as 'Krishna Mahal' in the ground-floor apartment (as a tenant of Shah family) from 1940s until her death on 31 January 2004. The house was first taken on rent by her mother, Mumtaz Begum. Many other film stars, such as Nargis and Raj Kapoor, lived nearby in the 1940s and 50s.

In 2012, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai announced that the entire road would be resurfaced, 72 years after it was originally laid.[2]