Kaffee Alt Wien
Encyclopedia
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
coffee house at Bäckerstraße 9 in the First District
Innere Stadt
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna . The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna...
. It was established in 1936 by Leopold Hawelka
Leopold Hawelka
Leopold Hawelka is an Austrian cafetier, founder of the Café Hawelka . He was born in Mistelbach...
and his wife Josefine on the day after their wedding. They ran the café until 1939 at which time they moved to Dorotheergasse, where they opened a new coffee house, the famous Café Hawelka
Café Hawelka
Café Hawelka is a coffeehouse in the Innere Stadt district of Vienna located at Dorotheergasse 6.The Café Hawelka was opened by Leopold Hawelka in 1939. Hawelka had previously operated the Kaffee Alt Wien on Bäckerstraße since 1936 and together with his wife Josefine took over the Café Ludwig in...
.
The Alt Wien is nowadays not one of Vienna's chic coffee houses, but instead rather smoky and gloomy, and the clientele often includes bizarre characters. Consequently in 1976, a notable happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
by the Viennese artist Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein is an Austrian-Irish fine artist, painter, photographer, installation and performance artist.-Work:Helnwein studied at the University of Visual Art in Vienna...
took place in the café. Since the 1980s, the Kaffee Alt Wien has developed into a night café.