Lapa consecrated itself as the city's bohemian heartland in the 1920s, replete with cabarets, bars and casinos. It was known as the tropical Montmartre in allusion to its Parisian influences and, like its French forefather, the region brought together artists, intellectuals, aristocrats, politicians, and a variety of people from all walks of life. It was a highly cosmopolitan neighborhood, home to a vast spectrum of musical genres, including Classical Orchestras, Jazz, piano and Samba. Artists and writers of the time spoke of two co-existing Lapas - the overt, intellectual milieu and the darker, more covert underworld.

With the formation of Cinelândia towards the middle of the century, along with other widespread urban reforms, Lapa was largely abandoned by intellectuals and artists, and left to its more subversive counterparts, until the districts redevelopment and discovery of the last decades, restoring Lapa to its original charm and glory.