BULLDOZED! Buffet De La Gare. Alas, it is no more!

BULLDOZED! Buffet De La Gare. Alas, it is no more!


BULLDOZED! Buffet De La Gare. Alas, it is no more!

It used to be the hangout for the ultra-hip of Addis. The place to see and be seen. Afework Tekele described it as “a small international café with all the trimmings that you find in such similar places, be it in Hong Kong, Paris or New York…You meet all kinds of people from all spectrum[s] of life. I think it is a kind of melting pot.” It was the centre of city life and “the hipster place of Addis Abeba in the 1970s and 80s.” Buffet De La Gare. Alas, it is no more!  A casualty of development, it was bulldozed yesterday to make way for the La Gare Eagle Hills development.


In-Picture

CURVY CORRIDORS

Rows of metal cups offer liquid solace for mourners going to the cemetery around Yeka Michael Church. An eerie optical illusion occurs as the row of cups seem to curve alongside the winding road. Traditional drinks made of cereal variety (Rhamnus prinoides) and Gesho and fermented honey are often served as refreshments in Ethiopian ceremonies of celebration and mourning. While tea and water are also offered in metallic cups colloquially known as nickel, a cold offering during social occasions of...


In-Picture

SLEEK SLABS

A street food vendor around the Stadium area pockets his inventory on a cosy corner wall. The area is being renovated as the eponymous soccer field's protracted construction nears completion. Bicycles for rental, informal driving instructors and the make-shift tent shops synonymous with the area are being slowly removed.  The six-decade-old stadium has been under construction for five years due to changing contractors and skyrocketing input costs. Kejela Merdasa, the minister of Culture & S...


In-Picture

CERAMIC SILHOUETTES

A new statue with emblems of the African Union hoisted atop traditional Ethiopian warriors casts a towering shadow across city hall near the Adwa Zero Kilometer Museum. The gargantuan project, spanning 45,000sqm, has recently opened its doors to the public to significant fanfare. The 4.6 billion Br project is made of 11 blocks that have auditoriums that can house 4,000 people at a time, galleries, gyms and art installations. A connecting bridge to the Mayor's office located across the street has...


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