Kocsis Irma: A tour of our Locals. (A very quick one) - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

I liked the street clock on the corner over the Cairo Bistro. I liked that it was on a corner, giving you a good view. You could see the playground opposite, between the camel transfers on the window. Then powdered quicklime coated the corner like the white sands of the desert, camel transfers flapped from the window-panes while behind them, in the dark, there were sacks and ladders in place of the old men.

Izabella utcai volt Aranylabda Borozó Former Golden Ball Wine-Tavern

VI. Izabella utca 98

This used to be the great footballer Flórián Albert’s pub for a couple of years, then it was closed for alterations. These days I keep an eye on it because the perpetual pitch-darkness that reigns there titillates my curiosity. The drunken mumbles of the old men resting their elbows on the wooden tables makes the crypt-black back room eerie.

Velence

Venice

VI. Izabella utca 83

The Velence on the corner of Izabella utca goes under the name of Presszó. Inside a secret door leads into a back room. Recently they have had fruit machines set up below the lamp-brackets sporting red and green light bulbs, and a juke-box that floods this espresso of the lagoons with film music that puts Nino Rota to shame. Some years ago I was struck by an inspired idea for a grand tour: you could wander from the Capri in Damjanich utca through the Cairo on Majakovszkij (now Király) utca to the Velence of Izabella utca.

Fészek Borozó Nest Wine-Tavern

VI. Kmetty utca 22

ln the vicinity of a quarter of the Arts School known as Epreskert (Strawberry Garden), a romantic group of

25