Heritage Brand's home baseSeoul · In planning

Cafe Nostalgia

(working name)

Seoul's Jazz Age, by day and after dark.

Concept render, not a photograph of a real room

Three experiences, one story

A 1920s Jazz Age room coming to Seoul, with seated live jazz in the early evening and a cafe counter by day. It is the place to come back to at the end of the day and slow down, and to be recognised when you do, whether you are visiting Korea or live around the corner.

Concept: A 1920s Jazz Age room with live jazz
Evening: Seated live jazz
By day: Cafe counter and soda fountain
City: Seoul
Status: In planning

The empty bandstand under the gilt sunburst arch, piano and bass in place (concept render)

Early evening

Jazz stage

Seated live jazz in the early evening, honouring the Black American musicians who created the music, from Bessie Smith to Louis Armstrong's Hot Five.

Marble tables along the mirrored wall and the curved glass case (concept render)

By day

Cafe and soda fountain

Coffee, egg creams and zero-proof sodas. During American Prohibition (1920 to 1933) soda fountains became a popular alcohol-free place to meet; by 1925 there were more than 91,000 of them.

By day

Bakery

Breads and cakes from the machine age: the 1928 sliced loaf, the 1925 pineapple upside-down cake, the icebox cake. Modern favourites are labelled as modern.

Walkthrough

A first walk through the room

In from the street past the bakery counter and the coffee bar, then down the room to the bandstand as the early evening set begins. This is a concept visualization, not a final design: the location, layout and name are still being decided.

Early concept walkthrough (23 seconds, with music). The figures are rendered placeholders, not real guests.

Music: "St. Louis Blues" by W. C. Handy (1914), sung by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong on cornet, recorded in 1925; the recording is in the public domain in the United States. Rendered in Unreal Engine with MetaHuman characters; some furniture, food and textures are CC0 assets from Poly Haven.

The story

Two cities, 1927

New York

Duke Ellington began his run at Harlem's Cotton Club, a segregated club that booked Black performers for white-only audiences.

Gyeongseong (Seoul)

Under Japanese colonial rule, film director Lee Kyung-son opened Kakadu, described as the first dabang (coffee house) run by a Korean. Six years later the poet Yi Sang opened a dabang where writers gathered.

We want to tell both stories honestly, including the segregation and colonial rule that shaped them.

Regulars

Built for the second visit

Most places only remember you when the same person is on shift. We want the memory to travel with you instead.

Your first visit
If you like, we give you a paper card and write your usual on it, in your words. No name needed, no app, no sign-up. The card is yours.
When you come back
Show the card and we read your order back before you say it, with a small taste of whatever has just come out of the oven.
Becoming a regular
Choose a cup from the shelf and a mark for it. It is kept for you and used whenever you visit.

The card has no expiry. Come back in three years and we will still read your order back first.

A concept in planning; details may change.

From the counter

1928 1928 Sliced Milk Loaf
1925 Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
1920s Nickel Charlotte Russe
Today Injeolmi Soboro

See the full menu

Correspondence

Be first through the door

Tell us you are interested and we will email you opening news and invitations to pop-up jazz and bakery events.

Sign-ups are not open yet. This form does not send or store anything.