Saigon Cafe

Categories / City Services/Restaurants, Cafes, Cafeterias
SAIGON. The restaurant Moscow, whose informal name was Saigon, existed in the 1960-80s (49 Nevsky Prospect; its second informal name was Moscow Region). Opened in 1964, the cafe soon became a meeting place for Leningrad youth subcultures, artists not officially acknowledged, poets, musicians, creative youth and profiteers ("black-marketers"), who called it Saigon. The cafe became a club for the "Men of the Sixties"; in the 1970s, it was referred to as the "Brotherhood of the Men of the Seventies". The Saigon crowd had its own slang, folklore, laws, and ethics, and a unique atmosphere of unrestrained creativity reigned. Saigon's regular customers included I.A. Brodsky, S.D. Dovlatov, I.M. Smoktunovsky, E.G. Mikhnov, B.B. Grebenschikov, Y.Y. Shevchuk, M.S. Boyarsky, M.M. Shemyakin, E.B. Rein and others. In the 1970s, certain attempts were made to create meeting centres for nonconformist youth at various cafes, including one at 77 Nevsky Prospect (called Olster by the youth; the building was constructed in 1874, architect P.Y. Suzor), and at Rome, located at 41 Kirovsky (Kamennoostrovsky) Avenue (the building was constructed in 1970, architects T.A. Boldyreva, A.T. Sukhanov). By the early 1980s, Saigon lost its influence. In 1989, after repair, the cafe's former premises were turned into a shop for Italian bathroom fixtures, and then into a audio equipment shop. Efforts to create a memorial centre at the former Saigon, undertaken in 1990 by Shemyakin and Rein, were unsuccessful. In 1998, Moscow was closed down; after a major overhaul, the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel was opened in 2001 in the building. In 1999, the Saigon Music Club and Cafe were established in the building, becoming a venue for rock musicians and variety show performances, and exhibiting modern photographers and painters.

References: Прийма И. "Сайгон": отцы и дети // ЛП. 1989. № 2. С. 8, 27-29; Невский проспект - от стиляг до скинхедов // Пчела. 1996. № 10. С. 3-62.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Boldyreva Tatyana A.
Boyarsky Mikhail Sergeevich
Brodsky Iosif Alexandrovich
Dovlatov Sergey Donatovich
Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich
Mikhnov-Voytenko E.G.
Rein Evgeny Borisovich
Shemyakin Mikhail Mikhailovich
Shevchuk Yury Yulianovich
Smoktunovsky (real name Smoktunovich) Innokenty Mikhailovich
Sukhanov A.T.
Suzor Pavel Yulievich
Kamennoostrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 41
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 49
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 77
Прийма И. "Сайгон": отцы и дети // Ленингр. панорама, 1989
Невский проспект - от стиляг до скинхедов // Пчела, 1996 Radisson SAS Royal Hotel