Tschocherl Report 2

The "Tschocherl Report 2" focuses, like its predecessor from 2013, on a little-explored and rather ill-reputed local species of Vienna: the small café or espresso, known in jargon as "Presslufthittn," "Breslhittn," "Knoflhittn," or "Lurchbude" – the Tschocherl. In their series for the city newspaper Falter, Arthur Fürnhammer (text) and Mario Lang (photos) visited all the districts of Vienna, presenting one Tschocherl each month. Along the way, they encountered a colorful assortment of innkeepers, waitresses, and guests, hearing a variety of life stories and experiences. These include the former wine queen who once invented catering in Vienna, Leo – who visits his local at least 15 times a day and is known as "the pirate," a civil servant who prepares tax returns for everyone at the café every year, Guggi, who traveled the world as a sailor and is now a horse-drawn carriage driver, and many more. However, Tschocherl are more than just places where people enjoy smoking, drinking, and chatting. For their loyal regulars, they serve as an extended living room and a second family. It’s not unusual for the innkeeper to make a check-in call if a guest hasn’t shown up for two days. Thus, this book is not only a collection of Viennese characters and stories but also an elegy for a local culture that will soon have little place in today's over-regulated world.