Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Glaumbær (1961–1971) – Lost Tables
Glaumbær opened in autumn 1961 in Herðubreið, the old ice house Thor Jensen had built beside Tjörnin, when Ragnar Þórðarson and Theódór Ólafsson leased the whole building and split it into a restaurant by day and a club by night; Sigurbjörn Eiríksson took over in 1963. Jón Páll Bjarnason's band was
Glaumbær opened in autumn 1961 in Herðubreið, the old ice house Thor Jensen had built beside Tjörnin, when Ragnar Þórðarson and Theódór Ólafsson leased the whole building and split it into a restaurant by day and a club by night; Sigurbjörn Eiríksson took over in 1963. Jón Páll Bjarnason's band was the first to play there, and through the sixties it became the home ground of the beat and hippie bands – Hljómar, Óðmenn, Dúmbó og Steini and later Náttúra – often with two bands on two floors the same night. In June 1970 Led Zeppelin, in town for their Reykjavík concert, turned up during Trúbrot's farewell show for Shady Owens and Karl Sighvatsson after Trúbrot's manager invited them. In 1971 the musical Hárið (Hair) was staged there, and a few days after its run ended, on 4 December 1971, fire gutted the timber-lined interior in the early hours after closing, destroying Náttúra's instruments. Musicians and the 'Glaumbær generation' fought for a rebuild for about two years, but neighbours were relieved when the building went to the National Gallery of Iceland instead.
Listasafn Íslands (National Gallery of Iceland), opened on the site in 1987
Sources: