Trpeza
(Place, tavern, firm, Yugoslavia)
Literally means "diet", "food", "nutrition". It was, first of all, an express restaurant, meant as general mess hall for anyone who dropped by. I would eat there on mondays in the later part of 1980, when I was working at 13.. For a mess hall and mass cooking they weren't bad at all.
We visited the place more often during the last year(s) of gimnazija, since it's in a sidestreet just one block away. So when we'd have an empty class (which happened a lot in the beginning of fourth year, when Radoja went to work in the construction company and ŽGLJ was doing the schedule - what does a chemist know about moving things around on a grid, they think there are only natural places for things in it, it's a kind of system and the things will go where they should, we only need to discover their periodicity... So whenever there was one of those, we'd wait a few minutes, and seeing no substitute coming, we'd disperse in groups of one to three, and within a few minutes more we'd converge here. Had a drink or coffee and returned on time for the next class. Too bad we had a total of about 30 minutes. With a double empty class, we'd have about 50 minutes more.
The last time I was in there was during that one semester in 1980, when it was a good place for a quick lunch between the shifts, and even then I soon concluded that it's faster to walk the 1km home (the van would drop me at busodrome), eat something and take a bike. So I ate there perhaps three times. Then it completely vanished from my horizon.
I'd still feel, in passing, the regular smell of all such establishments, the mix of oil in the pan and powdered sugar, which goes on for several popular pastries and is practically a call sign. Had no reason to go in, though. And that's the basement, where they had only this snack bar, where you'd get a quick breakfast (mostly pogačice and yogurt or some such fried thing) or a drink. Didn't need the lunch anymore, and as a restaurant, well, we mostly didn't visit any, and even if we did, going up to the third floor (it would be a second, but the street is sloped there, and it's above the lower edge) just for drinks, no, thanks, there are dozen other places nearby.
As the view from the terrace wasn't enough anymore, the restaurant closed, don't know when, couldn't survive with so many watering holes nearby (two cafes, one with a terrace under big trees, right across). Nowadays it's all built up and around, there's an extra floor on top of it. Offices or apartments, who knows. The shot I made in january 2024. The top of the yellow part on the corner is where the terrace used to be. The stambena was to the right, behind the old house.
Mentions: 13. april, november 1970., until 18th, 16-X-1972., 20-I-1973., 25-II-1973., 16-IV-1973., 20-V-1973., 20-IX-1973., 29-XI-1973., 26-XII-1973., 27-I-1974., 19-II-1974., august 1974., Vacation enforcement, 22-VIII-1974., february 1977., 01-IX-1980., 11-X-1986., december 1987., 24-I-2012., gimnazija, pogačice, Radoje Maletin (Radoja), stambena zadruga, yogurt, Živorad G Ljubišić (ŽGLJ), in serbian
4-IX-2020 - 15-IV-2026