Ipanema (Portuguese pronunciation: [ipaˈnẽmɐ]) is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon and Arpoador.

[1] The name Ipanema originally referred to a river in the state of São Paulo, its etymology deriving from the Tupi language words ipá (pond) and nem-a (stinking).

[4] The neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro was named after José Antonio Moreira Filho, the Baron of Ipanema, who in 1883 created the first urban settlement in the region.

Every Sunday, the roadway closest to the beach is closed to motor vehicles allowing local residents and tourists to ride bikes, roller skate, skateboard, and walk along the ocean.

Two mountains called the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers) rise at the western end of the beach, which is divided into segments delineated by postos, or lifeguard towers.

Its notoriety began around 1979 when Fernando Gabeira, later a federal deputy for the State of Rio de Janeiro, returned from political exile in France and was photographed there in a thong.

[11] He had been a member of the leftist urban guerrilla group MR8, which kidnapped the American ambassador, Charles Burke Elbrick, in 1969 and demanded the release of fifteen political prisoners in exchange for his life.

[11][14] Posto 9 inherited its status as a gathering spot for counter-cultural types from the area near Farme de Amoedo Street, next to the dunes called Dunas do Barato and a pier that was demolished in the 1970s.