Art Cafe U Irmy

Exterior

It’s midday, below freezing, and snowing outside. Karoliny Světlé street is extremely quiet and desolate, eerie almost. Charles Bridge is close by but I’m trying to avoid the tourist buzz. Blocks away, tours of Old Town are in session. It is here that a small café, similar to one in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, blends in with the rest of the light red brick buildings surrounding it. “I looked upon the future and all that I could see is a vision of the world and all the wonders that would be.” This is just one of the many clichés written in chalk on the walls of ‘Art Café U Irmy’ (Art Café by Irmy).  It was just over three years ago that a woman from Georgia named Irmy (pronounced eer-ma), 42-decided to open a café where both friends and travelers could come and leave their mark.  Inside, the red walls are covered in colorful chalk writings and drawings patrons have made since Art Café opened its doors in 2004. During the hour I spend enjoying a delicious cappuccino, the music ranges from Czech techno to the Backstreet Boys to the Beatles’ “A Hard Days Night”.  Just as diverse as the music are the eclectic trinkets and objects Irmy has collected throughout her travels that give Art Café such a worldly feel. Potted plants line the windows, Chinese dolls are sparingly hung on the walls and a free standing blue-and-orange stained glass flamingo sits by a miniature African bongo on a bookshelf next to the bar.  The room is dim lit and small. Of the seven bench tables, four are in use. A young Czech couple laughs in a corner by the flower pot while on the opposite end, two English men in their forties discuss an excel spread sheet displayed on a laptop. A Czech woman in her thirties sits at the table next to me.  The hood on her rabbit fur vest blocks her face as she sips the “Andy Warhol” (tomato soup). Nikola, my skinny, Slovakian, fiery red haired waitress wears black dancer shoes, enough mascara that her eyes look swollen and speaks almost perfect English. She has a calm sense about her and smiles as she walks from table to table, making sure her customers are satisfied.  Out of curiosity, I decide to spark up a conversation with her. “So who comes here mostly?” I inquire “Mostly friends of Irma and travelers,” Nikola responds. “Hmm”A pause. “What about all the writing on the wall?” I ask. “It’s from people who have been here. If they want to write something on the wall, we give them a piece of chalk and let them write or draw what ever they want. Would you like to write something?” “Oh, no thanks”I look around and notice, “FRIENDS FOREVER” circled, a large yin yang sign on the pink ceiling, and a picture of a skeleton cowboy with a caption next to it that reads, “the dead cowboy says, “Hi””.  “What’s Irmy like?” I ask. “See for yourself.” Nikola says. She points to a calendar of Irmy.  The month of February shows her in a red dress with spaghetti straps, a diamond chandelier necklace and a diamond bracelet that dangles off of her wrist.  She wears a big grin on her full lips and has a cigarette and drink occupying both of her hands.  Nikola winks at me and tends to another table. I smile and return my eyes to the calendar of Irmy. She seems as friendly as the café she owns. The woman sitting next to me gets up to leave. Although Art Café is a place that is constantly in transition, it is a change so subtle, it can easily go unnoticed.