Kaffeehäuser – Austria’s Living Rooms - Austria - page 782

Literary Kaffeehäuser
Come the late 19th century, elegant Kaffeehäuser sprang up along Vienna's Ringstrasse
and everywhere a new 'literary coffee house' developed where writers could work in a
warm room. Café Grienstedl was the first, but Café Central, the favourite of writers Peter
Altenberg and Alfred Polgar, and architect Adolf Loos, is the best-known literary Kaffee-
haus .
The writer Stefan Zweig saw them as an inimitable 'democratic club' bearing no like-
ness to the real world, but your average Kaffeehaus did have a clear pecking order. At the
bottom of the heap was the Piccolo who set the tables and topped up the guests' water
glass, while flirting like a gigolo with the grand ladies whenever a spare moment presen-
ted itself. The cashier (in the ideal case of coffee-house tradition, buxom, blonde and with
jewellery dripping from her ears) wrote the bills and kept a watchful eye on the sugar.
At the top of the heap was the Oberkellner ( Herr Ober , for short, or head waiter), who
until 1800 used to be a ponytailed fellow with a dinner jacket, white tie, laced shoes,
striped stockings and often a green apron. No Herr Ober dresses like this today (there are
hints of the old garb, but none of the kinky stuff), but they do still rule the tables and the
spaces between them in their dark attire.
Today you find more of a Konditorei (cake shop) atmosphere, and most continue to be
the living rooms of the Viennese. These are places where you can drink coffee or wine, eat
a goulash or light meal, read the newspapers or even enjoy a lounge vibe.