Cafe Dialogue to be a place of culture and conversation
Siena College professor seeks to re-create atmosphere of spaces in his native Iran
SCHENECTADY — When Iranianborn Mahmood Karimi-hakak went to his first American bar, he was appalled by the wall of giant television screens flashing sports games and blaring music.
“That’s what you do at home,” he recalled thinking. “You come here to talk to people, to talk to each other.”
In Iran, where Karimi-hakak lived and worked as a theater artist until he left the country at the start of the Iranian Revolution, cafes and bars were places of conversations spanning art, politics, science and culture. As an activist and artist, Karimi-hakak sees dialogue as an important tool for peace. The Siena College professor has spent the last decade working to re-create such a space in Schenectady, and on March 18 his Cafe Dialogue will officially open in the former Copper Keg building on Eastern Avenue.
In addition to being a gathering place to talk among friends and strangers, Cafe Dialogue will offer lectures, film screenings, live music, poetry readings, wine tastings, panel discussions and food. The cafe will be open 7-10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, thanks to a catering friend of Karimi-hakak who will drive down from Canada on the weekends to help run the cafe.
The cafe will be a gathering place for all, but particularly for the Persian community given the large number of Afghan immigrants living in the region. He wants people to feel safe talking — and listening — to those with differing opinions and backgrounds, something he feels Schenectady needs.
“I’m hoping that this place becomes a place where you can open the door, walk in and sit down and have a talk,” Karimihakak said. “If they can afford a cup of coffee, fine. If they can’t, we’ll give them a cup of coffee. Let them sit down, and let us hear their story.”
Karimi-hakak first attempted a similar cafe on Union Street about 10 years ago. When his then in-laws lost their Jay Street restaurant in the 2015 fire, he offered his cafe for them to open the now-closed Persian Bites. Later that year, he bought the Copper Keg building and gutted it, saving the wooden floors and bar, and embarked on an ambitious, mostly solo renovation project.
“At first, (the zoning officials) were very suspicious because here is this
theater professor doing carpentry,” Karimi-hakak said. “But then they saw that it was all good and strong.”
Construction wrapped in February 2020, and Karimihakak was eager to welcome people into the cafe in March. Then the pandemic hit, his plans were derailed and Karimi-hakak made the decision to sell the space. Because he became invested in the neighborhood, he didn’t want it to become a bar or something that the neighborhood didn’t want, need or couldn’t afford to use. He’d ask interested buyers what their plans were, and, after a few asked why he cared, he realized he wasn’t ready to let it go.
Karimi-hakak and his friends spent the last two months getting the space ready, relying mostly on recycled and thrifted materials. Artists in Karimihakak’s network contributed work to the space including Sheila Pinkel, who donated photographs taken in Pakistan, and Cheryl Deciantis, who donated 23 portraits of Iranian women murdered amid the protest of Mahsa Amini’s death.
The cafe will finally welcome the public at its grand opening event on March 18, which coincides with Nowruz, or Persian New Year. Tickets are $50, and the night will feature performances, food and screenings from Cinema Invisible, an organization co-created by Karimihakak to show films banned by their countries of production.
“I really, really hope the space becomes a place for dialogue between artists, scholars, scientists, community members and politicians,” Karimi-hakak said. “I have come to believe that the only salvation for us is dialogue.”