Café Adria
Café Adria was an entertainment complex and nightclub in Warsaw, which included an American bar, café, dance hall, restaurant and winter garden.[1]
It started operating in 1930 and during the 1930s it was also used as a location for filmmaking.
It continued to operate during the Second World War, but this was for the German occupying forces who requisitioned it. It became a base for the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising, where it was damaged by bombardment.
Design and operations
[edit]Café Adria was founded in 1930 at Moniuszki Street 10 by entrepreneur Franciszek Moszkowicz and its restaurant opened in February 1931. It occupied the basement and ground floor of a large office building that had been built in 1928 for the Italian insurance company Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà, which presumably inspired the café's name.[2]
Its style was Art Deco and used lighting to emphasise the quality of materials, rather than ornamentation. The dance floor included a rubberised disc that revolved like a phonograph turntable and its live band was led by many performers, such as Artur Gold. The American bar was air-conditioned and served cocktails and Coca-Cola. The winter garden contained plants and live birds, such as parrots. [2][3][1]
The venue was at the centre of Warsaw nightlife. It hosted events like balls and parties and often featured prominent artists, musicians and other popular figures.[3]
Filmmaking location
[edit]The café's varied interiors made it a good location for filmmaking. It has appeared in many films, such as the 1933 movie His Excellency, The Shop Assistant,[3] or the 1934 Polish musical comedy Co mój mąż robi w nocy (What Is My Husband Doing Tonight?), where it was named "Alhambra" and used as a set for half of the scenes.[1]
Wartime
[edit]During the Second World War, Café Adria was requisitioned and reserved for Germans only. In May 1943, there was a shootout when Jan Kryst sought revenge for the torture of Polish prisoners by shooting members of the Gestapo who were there for the cabaret.[4]
During the Warsaw Uprising, it housed a canteen and the Błyskawica radiostation. It was then hit by a large shell from a Karl-Gerät siege mortar on 18 August 1944. The 60-centimetre (24 in) shell did not explode, but penetrated all the floors of the building and reached the cellars.[2][3] Further bombardment then inflicted more damage, but the building was one of the few to remain standing and was renovated as a bank after the war.
Contemporary use
[edit]In 1973 another café was created in the same place under the name New Adria, but it closed in 2005 and the building that housed the café was abandoned; in 2024 there were plans to modernise the building for use as residential flats.[2][3]
The building is now listed on the Polish list of historic monuments.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Goscilo, Helena (11 April 2023), "Singing a Different Tune": The Slavic Film Musical in a Transnational Context, Academic Studies Press, p. 50, ISBN 979-8-88719-129-4 – via Google Books,
Adria's complex of eateries (restaurant, cafe, American bar) and dance hall, which boasted a revolving floor resembling a phonograph record, was widely regarded as the most elegant entertainment establishment in the capital.
- ^ a b c d Markowski, Mateusz (22 April 2024), The building on Moniuszki Street is to undergo redevelopment, MAD White, archived from the original on 23 April 2024, retrieved 19 August 2024
- ^ a b c d e Bretan, Juliette (28 May 2021), "The glittering nightlife and thriving culture of interwar Warsaw", Notes from Poland, archived from the original on 3 December 2021, retrieved 20 August 2024
- ^ Elphick, Daniel (3 October 2019), Music behind the Iron Curtain: Weinberg and his Polish Contemporaries, Cambridge University Press, p. 66, ISBN 978-1-108-49367-3
- ^ "Towarzystwa Ubezpieczeń Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta, ob. PZU". Zabytek.pl. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
External links
[edit]- Pre-war Warsaw in Colour on YouTube—Colourised film of Café Adria in the 1930s that includes the revolving dance floor (time index 1:25)