Porhászka László: The Danube Promenade - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)

Life on the promenade in the mid-thirties

mer Ritz) were operated under joint management and at luxury standards. "The most modern and cosmopolitan of the two was the Ritz, but maybe the Hungária was the pleasantest,” says Pál Granasztói in his work quoted above. Under the terms of an agreement, the Hungária catered for guests from the west, while the custom of the Dunapalota was eastern, but often even better off, and domestic in provenance. This policy was of course observed only at the level of the most tactful recommendations possible, as the visitor naturally checked into whichever hotel he or she preferred. In 1935, Edward Prince of Wales and his large entourage, for example, took up residence in the Dunapalota during a stay in Budapest, an event that received extensive press coverage.

The Danube promenade saw its heyday in the 1930s. From 1926 to his death in 1940, Imre Magyari’s gypsy band played in the ground-floor banqueting hall and on the terrace of the Grand Hotel Hungária. Those for whom the prices of the elegant restaurant were too high or who simply wished to take some fresh air could, whilst promenading or sitting down in a Buchwald chair outside, still listen to the music freely flowing in the air.

In response to growing demands further cafés were opened. In 1931, Lajos Paulin opened the famous Café Negresco on the ground floor of No. 1 Vigadó tér (in the

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