The story of innovation during the Ottomans’ “longest century” (the 19th century) is traditionally written according to the trajectories of West to East and center to periphery: all new things came from Western Europe initially, and the Ottoman court, its bureaucrats, and through them the imperial capital Istanbul were at the forefront of bringing this change about. The very word that has become eponymous with this period in historiography, Tanzimat (reorderings), reveals the historians’ preoccupation with state attempts at directing change. Due to our present-day experiences with globalization and the development towards multi-source-based research, we can now more readily question this center to periphery approach. The paper does not wish to revert to the theory prominent in 1980s historiography that a monocentric world economy was the sole driving force for social change in the Ottoman Empire. While global economic trends were doubtlessly important, human agency, often on a low level and without noticeable direction, was vital in bringing about the developments that proved to be of lasting impact. Based on my own research on alcohol and entertainment institutions, but also drawing on examples from research on economic, administrative, and urban history, I wish to show that Izmir was in many ways more of a trendsetter for change in the Northern half of the Ottoman Empire than the capital. Being strongly exposed already from the mid-19th century onwards to international commercial exchange and West and Central European trends in fashion, lifestyle, and consumption, Izmir adapted to these without much fuss, whereas Istanbul produced more spectacular signs of its state-driven modernization. These failed however to make a socially broad impact. The paper will bring together different kinds of sources, such as memoirs, Public Debt Administration statistics, consular court and administrative files, Ottoman police reports etc., as only a combination of sources enables us to identify the diverse sectors of life in which Izmir served as a trendsetter. There are indicators though that Izmir was losing its avantgarde position slowly to other centers towards the beginning of the 20th century.