Brothers İdris and Namık Çolpan opened Lale's Restaurant in 1957, having no idea that it would soon become the hippie hotspot nicknamed "The Pudding Shop." It become a communication hub for young travelers between Europe and Asia in the 60's and 70's, before the days of the internet.
Young travelers would leave notes for each other on bulletin boards on the walls of the restaurant for their friends to find, pass along to people at other locations, etc. It was also popular to leave apologies, love notes, notices about transportation and people's whereabouts. These crazy hippie kids would meet up at Lale's while moving east and west to socialize, share travel advice and stories.
Today there are no longer places to leave notes on the walls, but Lale's is still there and still full of travelers and tourists. Now they have large photos of their old bulletin boards and scenes from the restaurant's from the 60's and 70's covering their walls.
This post is especially for my father, who was one of those wandering hippies eating pudding at Lale's.
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