As an 18-year-old, Kožo began playing music in discotheque ABC on Čengić Vila. During the Olympics in 1984, Kožo was working in Holiday Inn, then in Hotel Evropa, and in the old Sloga.
Kožo says that before the war visitors from the region rushed to Sarajevo to experience its phenomenal night life and places such as Sloga, BB Klub, Dancing 77... During the war, Kožo worked in cafe Kabare in Youth Theater, and after the war in discotheque Senator, after which he decided to try his luck as a café owner. His Nostalgija café has been in existence for 11 years, on Muvekita Street.
A good chunk of Kožo’s life is tied to café Dedan, which once stood on Halači Street and was one of the first Sarajevo cafés that hired DJs to play music live.
- That café created one really good generation, which remained unfazed by confessions, education levels or financial assets...
In his free time, Kožo likes to walk through Wilson’s Walkway, with Lola, his one-year-and-a-half female bichon frise.
When it comes to architecture, his favorites are old Austro-Hungarian buildings, like those on Marijin dvor, as well as The National Museum, City Hall (Vijećnica)… He finds that the newly rebuilt Europe Hotel is a fine example of a mixture of old Sarajevo with the modern architecture.
If he doesn’t have his coffee in Nostalgija, he will have it in Delikatesna radnja or Manhattan in Kulovića Street. As far as the restaurants are concerned, Kožo frequents Tavola, Delikatesna radnja and Noovi, but also Pod lipom and Bašča. He loves ćevapi, and eats them at Hodžić and Petica. He thinks that those visiting Sarajevo for the first time should definitely go to the restaurant Kod Kibeta and try Bosnian food.
Visitors of Sarajevo should also see the Olympics Museum and the National Museum, and after that visit the Tunnel of Hope as well as Bijela tabija (White Fortress). For him, the best view on Sarajevo is from restaurants Kod Bibana and Bašča, and from the viewpoint on Trebević.
Kožo concludes our conversation with his view of today’s Sarajevo:
- Maybe Sarajevo is not the city it was before the war, but it is still a cosmopolitan city. And that is why I love it.
