Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Röðull (1944–1976) – Lost Tables
Röðull opened on New Year's Eve 1944 with a dance held by the football club Fram, at Laugavegur 89 opposite Stjörnubíó; first owned by Erlendur Erlendsson, it held about 300 people across two floors and a basement. It closed there in autumn 1957 and after a pause reopened on the corner of Skipholt a
Röðull opened on New Year's Eve 1944 with a dance held by the football club Fram, at Laugavegur 89 opposite Stjörnubíó; first owned by Erlendur Erlendsson, it held about 300 people across two floors and a basement. It closed there in autumn 1957 and after a pause reopened on the corner of Skipholt and Nóatún, where in summer 1959 restaurateur Helga Marteinsdóttir, who had run Vetrargarðurinn in Tívolí, took over the lease; she later bought the place with her son-in-law and ran it for many years, selling tickets and minding the hall in traditional Icelandic dress well into her seventies. Open six nights a week, it had bands led by Árni Elfar, Magnús Ingimarsson and Hrafn Pálsson, with singers such as Haukur Morthens, Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson and Þuríður Sigurðardóttir, and the 'Röðull special' open sandwich of lobster and prawns was a hit. Its doorman, the glíma wrestling champion Sigtryggur Sigurðsson, was famous enough to inspire Þursaflokkurinn's song 'Sigtryggur vann'. Röðull closed at the end of 1976 and Radíóbúðin moved in, while former regulars founded the Röðull society in 1990 to meet and reminisce.
The Skipholt 19 corner building later housed Radíóbúðin and Ruby Tuesday; a neighbourhood café and bookshop (Bókasamlagið) opened there in 2021
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