The regular – A quintessential meyhane figure
Space only attains meaning through the cultural ethos enacted within it, the memories it evokes, and the symbolic value it carries; in short, it only becomes meaningful through the humans that inhabit it. And, meyhane is no exception.
Pop-up Meyhane in London by Istanbul Elsewhere, photo by Ferhat Elik
Meyhane has been a prominent fixture of urban culture since the Byzantine times (during which they were called tavernia, pouskareia, and kapeleia). Being a port city and an imperial capital meant Constantinople welcomed swarms of visitors, who sang the praises of these establishments back home. So much so that by the time the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453, Galata (the Genoese quarter) meyhanes’ fame had reached all corners of Europe. They played a vital role in shaping and reshaping, ordering and de-ordering, and enriching urban life under Ottoman rule, as more meyhanes were opened in the old quarters (around the Golden Horn) and fishing villages across the Bosporus. And, despite the inevitable ebb and flow, the meyhane has maintained its status as one of the cardinal cultural institutions in the city.
Pop-up Meyhane in London by Istanbul Elsewhere, photo by Ferhat Elik
Meyhane has been able to survive and thrive for so long because a meyhane image – not merely a physical representation but a complete picture of a meyhane, which includes snippets of a distinct social comportment – has been ingrained in Istanbulites’ collective memory. Regulars have played a more prominent role than any other actor in keeping this collective memory alive. How? By observing rituals that have come to define the meyhane experience, passing down stories (some of which are more of a legendary nature than others) to younger generations, adapting to welcome changes while preserving the nucleus of the meyhane ethos, and maintaining this all-too-familiar, distinctive lifestyle.
Bayram's Place a.k.a Sev İç, Aleko's a.k.a Deniz Park, Todori's a.k.a Cumhuriyet Aile Bahçesi
According to the writer and meyhane aficionado Erdir Zat, regulars also kept the cultural memories of meyhanes alive by referring to them not by their official names but by the names of their original owners, a.k.a. barbas, even long after the barba had passed away. For instance, Neşe (later, Seviç) was called Bayram’s Place, Deniz Park İskele Restaurant was called Aleko’s, and Cumhuriyet Aile Bahçesi (Republican Family Garden) was called Todori’s.
Meanwhile, regulars continue to feature in these very memories they keep alive as the main protagonists. Meyhane, as an urban space par excellence, facilitates integration, cultural interaction, socialization, and camaraderie. Although everyone who visits a meyhane partakes in socialization and rites of sharing, regulars’ experience drastically differs from the rest. Their relationship with meyhane and others is not ephemeral but sturdy, steadfast, and profound. This is why, as historian Hakan Kaynar asserts, it is the camaraderie between the regulars that has formed the basis of the romantic meyhane image that continues to magnetize and titillate Istanbulites to date.
To feel at home, completely and utterly safe
One of the most common ways regulars refer to their meyhanes is “home away from home.” As social beings, humans desire interaction and company. However, they also seek the safety and comfort a particular locality might offer; a space that provides familiarity and intimacy in a strange and ever-so-alienating world and a space they can return to time after time. And meyhane answers this fundamental human need for attachment to a space.
The title logo of Cheers, an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, lasting nine seasons on the network. Source: wikimedia
Gary Portnoy’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name, which is the theme song from the hit 1980s TV series Cheers, set in the titular bar in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, socialize, and relax, captures the essence of what it means to be a regular:
Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name
Bayram's Place a.k.a Sev İç, source: sevicrestaurant.com
Friendly faces and sounds (not only those of the owner and the staff but of course, other regulars as well), familiar aromas, a warm smile displaying genuine affection, and perhaps most importantly being surrounded by people who understand and appreciate your desires, likes and dislikes, mood, beliefs, fears and treasure you not despite but for them, make the regular feel herself like a cherished, dear friend. And that is why the meyhane is invaluable to the regular. As author Serdar Erbaş frames it, “meyhane is a refuge for the regular.” It is a space she can enter without seeking permission or invitation; she might choose to converse with others that evening or sit on her own at a table. No one pressures her and demands anything of her. She acts as she would have at her own home. In short, here, in the meyhane, the regular can become herself.
The feeling of safety also has a material and practical side. As Kaynar rightly points out, the regular relies on the owner (or, staff members or other regulars) to ensure that she will safely get home and knows that the protective gaze of the barba is always on her. And, as historian İhsan Erdinçli asserts some barbas were such natural-born protectors that they would gently warn their regulars that they’d perhaps had enough for the night.
An affective, singular bond
A regular experiences pleasure at her meyhane; she is interested in what is going on at the meyhane and with other regulars; she is, in the words of Metin Solmaz, “not a client but part and parcel of the entire process.” This attachment and commitment mean the regular feels she belongs to the meyhane. However, concurrently, because the meyhane means so much to her, she also experiences a kind of possessiveness towards it and even other regulars. For Kaynar, this means the meyhane effectively belongs to the regular: she never does anything to put the barba in an awkward position; should the need arise, she acts as a mediator, a negotiator in the meyhane, and she shields it like her own home.
Giritli Restaurant, source: giritlirestoran.blogspot.com
Today, in a world increasingly characterized by spatial and hence atmospheric uniformity (consider the overwhelming numbers of chain pubs, coffeehouses, and restaurants spread across metropolises all over the world), the regular demands a uniqueness that reflects her singular being, her distinct identity. Ayşe Şensılay, the founder of Giritli (one of the foremost meyhanes in contemporary Istanbul), agrees: “Meyhane regulars are not mere names on a bill or table numbers. They are much more than that and demand and deserve to be treated as such.” In other words, the regular is always already in possession of her singularity and demands her meyhane to recognize and reflect that.
As the bond between the regular and her meyhane deepens, they begin to influence one another reciprocally. As the meyhane influences how the regular interprets and enacts herself, the regular leaves traces of her all over the meyhane. She gets her own table, her photograph takes its place among other regulars on the wall, she becomes part of the stories (legendary or real) told about the meyhane, or maybe as Hazan Aydın suggests, she might even add her touch to a particular meze the meyhane offers.
What entices someone to become a regular of a meyhane in the first place? Presumably a combination of factors. Although it provided an amazing atmosphere in general, the delicious mezes Kör Agop offered was a major reason its regulars could never let go; it might be the comportment and demeanor of the barba that draws you; maybe the decoration attracts you; you might be in adoration of the clientele as was the case in Balıkpazarı meyhanes whose regulars mainly consisted of poets; as Kaynar argues, it might be the staff as was the case with early 20th-century Pera meyhanes whose Russian women staff attracted many regulars; or, what calls you might be inexplicable even to yourself: you quite simply feel at home from the moment you set foot in.
Joie de vivre
17th-century poet Rûhî Bağdâdî once wrote, “We are residents of a world of love and pleasures called the meyhane.”
Ruhi Bagdadi, source: aslennereli.com
Indeed, meyhane regulars are filled with joie de vivre – they affirm and enjoy life with all its aspects. In the meyhane, they take refuge from the pace of modern life, or as Ahmet Rasim said, the deafening and cacophonous sounds of the city. Here, they do not have to rush – tranquility and elongation of pleasure characterize their experience of the meyhane. This home away from home is where they can stop and breathe.
Rosler's Le Flaneur, source: wikimedia
And in that sense, the regular resembles another social and literary type that appeared in 19th-century Europe: the flaneur. This figure of urban affluence, the stroller, the lounger, also symbolizes a particular way of life – that of a person of leisure. And reading Walter Benjamin, one could be forgiven to see in him a doppelgänger of the regular: the flaneur demanded elbow room, fled the daily hustle and bustle of the city, and was unwilling to forgo the life of a man of leisure.
Akşamcı were the regulars of olden days. According to Erdinçli, these were elegant, graceful figures who knew how to speak and listen. They never rushed with their drinks as the latter they saw merely as a facilitator of conversation, friendship, and camaraderie. The akşamcı would visit the meyhane in his neighborhood every evening, and drink a few with his fellow regulars. According to writer Selin Özavcı Tokçabalaban, the changing socio-economic conditions have caused the regular to metamorphose: “The regular no longer visits the meyhane every evening but visits it every time she goes out.”
Further Reading
İhsan Erdinçli. “İstanbul Meyhanelerinde Sıra Dışı Eğlenceler: 17. Yüzyıldan 20. Yüzyıla Müzk, Raks ve Cinsellik,” Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi, XXXV: 1, 2020, 101-132.
Meyhane İhtisas Kitabı. A’dan Z’ye Meyhane: Nedir, Nasıl Çalışır? Istanbul: Anason İşleri. 2022.
Rakı Ansiklopedisi: 500 Yıldır Süren Muhabbetin Mirası. Istanbul: Overteam Yayınları.
Walter Benjamin. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. New York: Shocken, 1955.
Walter Benjamin. The Arcades Project. Cambridge, MASS.: Harvard University Press, 1999.