Parel or Lower Parel (Portuguese name: Parella) is central part of Mumbai. It is also lends its name to two railway stations (Parel and Lower Parel) on the Mumbai suburban railway. The Elphinstone Road railway station on the Western line of Mumbai Suburban Railway is also situated in this neighbourhood. It lies in the western part of Parel (Parel West, also known as Elphinstone due to its proximity to the Elphinstone Rd. railway station). Most of the mills in Mumbai used to be in this area till some years ago. Now, most of these mills have shut down.

Parel was one of the original seven islands that formed Mumbai. It belonged to the 13th century kingdom of Raja Bhimdev. The name has come from the Parali Vaijanath Mahadev temple, dedicated to Shiva.^{[citation needed]}

When the Portuguese conquered Bombay, they gave the authority of this area to the Jesuit priests, who replaced the Parali Mahadev temple with a church and a convent (probably the present-day St. Pauls' Church and Convent). These buildings remained with the Jesuits until they were confiscated by the British, after the priests sided with the Sidis during their battle with the British in 1689 and spelt the area as Parell.^{[citation needed]}

Johnny Jordaan was the pseudonym for Johannes Hendricus van Musscher (7 February 1924 – 8 January 1989) a Dutch folk singer. He was well known for his songs about the city of Amsterdam, especially the Jordaan district.

His most famous song is "Geef mij maar Amsterdam" (I prefer Amsterdam). A small part of the song was featured in Friends episode "The one with all the football", where Joey and Chandler are competing for a Dutch girl.