The Café

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 New York Café is not solely a café but also a precious spot of Budapest and our national literature. Some regard it a national monument and some would like it to be called a pantheon. And, of course, they would use it as such too: a location with historical roots for various events and a source of unique gastronomy for the future. Let us stir things up, just like we do with a cup of hot quality coffee.

The café dates back to the 1870s, when Max Aufricht, a talented young man from the North of Hungary arrived to Budapest with a degree in Education and a single silver coin in his pocket. His poverty, however, was coupled with unlimited ambitions and while working for a textile wholesaler he completed a doctorate degree in law and learnt French.

The still young Miksa Arányi – his name naturalized according to the customs of the era – soon found himself living in Paris where fate introduced him to the chairman of New York insurance company. The meeting led to doing business: he was called upon to establish a Hungarian network that later worked out so well that the construction of the Budapest head quarters for the prosperous insurance company was soon on agenda.

The primarily eclectic, still Italian Renaissance-influenced design was Alajos Hauszmann's brainchild - a recognised architect of the era. The most impressive part of the building was the ground floor Café. Its interior was designed to carry the historical narrative of eclecticism. Everything was covered in marble, bronze, silk and velvet. The partition of the four storey café was attractively done by the peculiarly twisted columns; the innovative balcony design, the staircase to the gallery, the chandeliers and the murals on the ceiling all enhanced the feeling of luxury.

Already the grand opening held on 23rd October 1894 was attended by the best of the bests of the era's literature and art life, as if they had sensed that this place would be their home and source of inspiration for years and decades to come.

According to the anecdotes at the grand opening Ferenc Molnár threw the keys to restaurant into the Danube so that it would stay open day and night. The management of the café was not expecting poor bohemians but rather high-class, rich customers, still, the Café soon became a hotspot for a mixed crowd.

Artists regularly clustered around the same tables and a shift in customers according to the time of the day soon worked out. The Café unintentionally evolved into a literature hotspot. This place gave home to the periodical called Nyugat (The West), here the editorial of Pesti napló (Pest Daily) was provided a regular table, the intimidating critics ranged around the “Poem Table”, the film-makers found a niche on the balcony on the Dohány street side, the banquets of theatre premiers were also held here as well as Nyeho, the so-called “daycare” of fine artists. Who did art found a home here. One was given Kutyanyelv (a chocolatey sweet), if he/she had inspiration to write, the editions of Pallas cyclopaedia were available on the shelves, all major journals of the world were available too, he could eat, if he had no money he could still socialise or, for that matter, find solitude in a quiet corner.

Café life suffered during both WWI and WWII and the buzz of the first part of the 1900s never returned, still, the “end” came when the café was turned into a sports equipment store – though for a short period only – in the 1950s.

In 1954 the café, renamed to Hungária, came back into life and was welcomed by Jenő Heltai saying: “The old New York is gone. In its place a beautiful new café is opening today, Hungária. It is to live and prosper in our new world and I wish it the best of luck.”

His wishes, however, were not listened to, the real resurrection of the café only took place after the change of the political system.