“For thy love’s better than wine”

Ask any newari between “AbebyeSuQ” and “Qebena” what comes to his/her mind when the word “I love you hotel” is mentioned, and a laughter full of mirth follows. “It’s where teenagers go ‘fonQa’ siyizachew'” he/she would tell you, with a wicked smile on the map, “for an electric power house, it didn’t have much of a light. So they stand outside its door and start meJenaJening. Street kids and bums sleep in it too”.

The fact that the building has been standing there ever since the city of Addis started getting “yeMebrat Hayil”, more than 114 years ago, and a Lij Tefferra Ras WorQ planning (though Author/Historian Mamo Wudineh’s insistance) to re-erect every one of it’s century-old stones at Ankober is a news to most.

The tall edifice that bore the name “I love you Hotel” on one of its walls, proudly looking over what used to be the forested hills behind British Embassy’s expansive electric fences, is no longer with us. It’s been demolished to pave the way to civilization, in the form of a ring road stretching from Megenagna to Arat Kilo. But thanks to people like Eskinder, it lives in the hearts of those who had their first kiss infront of it. And a mystery to those of us who never passed it by without wondering what really goes inside it’s confined walls.

Ladies and gents, I present to you:

Related post: A Eulogy for “Sholan Geremew”