Alois is closely tied to this building. Before he made a breakthrough as a bartender, he had also worked in a bookshop located here in the late 19th century. He loved books, particularly historical writings, and frequently hid away with them here in the cellar to be able to read without being disturbed. He found historical records of this building and immediately fell in love with it. After he returned from abroad, where he had spent most of his time as a bartender, he once again retreated into his favourite cellar. He wished to open his own bar here. This is testified to by the detailed sketches and plans we found, which depict the business he had wished to have. Unfortunately, Alois never carried these plans through. He even created a comprehensive menu including brand new cocktails inspired by the story of the old building in which Hotel U Prince is located today. Relax and enjoy his engaging stories and have one of his favourite drinks...
Alois was born to an Old Town Prague family on 22 November 1893. His father worked as an iceman in Old Prague and his mother worked in a bookshop. From an early age he loved to help his father at work. Perhaps these are the roots of his love for ice and working with it. Having finished his studies, he started to work as an apprentice in the U Prince bookshop where his mother spent all of her working days. Here he hid away in the cellar for hours to read travelogues and dream of travel adventures. After his father died, he decided to leave and follow his dreams. He made his first stop in the charming Paris of 1910. There he met his first big love and started his bartending career. His travels led him to the USA, England, Jamaica and many other countries. In addition to making his living as a bartender, he also took a number of both legal and illegal jobs and encountered many influential and renowned public figures we commemorate even today...
At the end of World War II, his life journey took him back to his beloved Prague and back to his favourite cellar where he had dreamt of his future life as a young boy. And it was there that he got an idea to capitalize on his life experiences and open his own bar. He kept detailed records of the features that would make his bar stand out from any other. He wanted to create a work of art into which he would imprint his life stories; he wished to bring a piece of the world closer to Czech people, to bring it into the heart of Europe, Prague, the "city of a hundred spires." Only now, several years after his death, have all his notes and plans been meticulously materialised. Had it not been for the extensive building reconstruction and a large dose of coincidence, his diaries and personal notes might never have been discovered nor his secrets revealed.
