today posto 9 is considered the trendiest and most social part of ipanema beach, where many of rio's residents, brazilian tourists, hipsters, and international visitors gather to see and be seen - and yes, to enjoy the waves and the sun! 

posto 9 became a landmark in the late 1960's, when local singers, artists, intellectuals, and young politicians used to gather here and discuss and develop tropicalismo, an avant-garde artistic and cultural movement counter posing the strict brazilian military regime of that period.