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

View from Gellert Hill from around 1960 (the only building standing on the promenade is the Hotel Duna)

the bleak sight of the dreary scaffolding around the building on its north and south sides. Incidentally, the southern scaffolding was famous for the Dunákért (Danube Garden) at its foot, operating in the spot where the demolished Carlton had stood. This open-air club, featuring live music and a dance floor, was open from spring to autumn and was so popular that tables were very hard to come by at night. The Dunákért, a pleasant enough place in spite of its peculiar setting, was a short-lived establishment. It was closed down before the demolition of the Hotel Duna in 1969 to make room for the capital’s new luxury hotel, the Duna Inter-Continental. The roadway of the promenade was opened to motor traffic in the mid-sixties. Passers-by were obliged to use the existing pavements on each side. The real promenade, the scene of casual meetings was gradually shifted to Váci utca, since motor traffic which was gradually driven from this street, though somewhat shabby by this time, had preserved much of its elegance.

An important moment in the post-war history of the

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