Leopold Hawelka

Whilst Being Served at a Viennese Coffee House - Pencil drawing by Nigel A. JAMES


Hawelk's - More Real than Tradition

Coffee houses are, without any doubt at all, the most important Viennese institution of all. Without them, Vienna wouldn’t be the place that it is; for it is within their walls that life on all different levels takes place. Nearly everyone can count a coffee house as an important part of their present, their past, and, without any doubt at all, their future, too. Coffee houses are important because they are special.

But there are a few of them which are somehow more special than the rest; and the thing that distinguishes them are the people who run them; and, high up on the list is Hawelkas, small in size, but very big in feeling, and run by Leopold Hawelka, a man who has become a real life legend!

Leopold Hawelka, has just celebrated his 99th birthday! And he celebrated it, of course, where he still works, in his coffee house.

The Hawelkas opened their coffee house within the shadow of St. Stephen’s cathedral in the centre of Vienna in 1939. It survived the war with them, and, since then it has been sung about by Georg Danzer, created in, debated in, fought in, loved in, and everything else that is expected to be done in a coffee house – and all of the time within the same non-changing décor of ever yellowing walls and the same Thonet chairs.

Sadly, Mrs Hawelka passed away five years ago, but if she were still to be with us, she, too would still be standing and keeping order and directing people to impossible to find tables. At Hawelka’s there’s always a place to be had.

I started going to Hawelka’s about thirty five years ago. To my way of thinking, Herr Hawelka hasn’t changed at all, I’m the one who has put on years, not he!

And the future? Rest assured, the future generation of Hawelkas has become the present and is already in place. Hawelka’s is set to out-live us all!

And keeping up with the times? Hopefully, Hawelka’s will remain unchanged for ever; people, after all, feel comfortable in familiar surroundings, and places that one knows are always fun to go back to.

I have decided to celebrate my 99th at Hawelka’s too!



If you would like to contact me, my address is, njmailboy@gmail.com

Have you read my This Month’s Short Story yet? Click on to “short story” under "pages" at the top right hand corner of your screen! By the way, it’s a true story!