Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Vetrargarðurinn (Tívolí) (1946–1963) – Lost Tables
Vetrargarðurinn ('The Winter Garden') was the restaurant and dance hall of the Tívolí amusement park, which opened on drained bogland in Vatnsmýri in summer 1946 – a single-storey hall with a central tower and a glass front facing the rides. Restaurateur Helga Marteinsdóttir ran it until 1959, follo
Vetrargarðurinn ('The Winter Garden') was the restaurant and dance hall of the Tívolí amusement park, which opened on drained bogland in Vatnsmýri in summer 1946 – a single-storey hall with a central tower and a glass front facing the rides. Restaurateur Helga Marteinsdóttir ran it until 1959, followed by Sigurbjörn Eiríksson, later of Glaumbær and Klúbburinn. Open public dances began in 1951, with Jan Morávek's band as the first house band, then those of Baldur Kristjánsson and Karl Jónatansson, and later Plútó kvintettinn, Svavar Gests's band, Falcon and others; beauty contests and visiting foreign acrobats and musicians were big draws, and in 1956 the park even tried a summer zoo with lions and monkeys. The hall never had a liquor licence, guests smuggled in their own, and its rowdy reputation and noise drew complaints. Attendance fell after 1956, the floor sank into the bog, and when a temporary noise permit ran out at the turn of 1962–63 the hall closed, with the park following in summer 1963; the shell stood until 1987, and Stuðmenn's 1976 album Tívolí keeps its memory alive.
Building demolished 1987; the site was cleared by Hafskip for warehouses
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