Samvel Poghosyan’s grandfather was a builder and used to share anecdotes with Samvel was a child. “My grandfather used to steal from the state and had a wealthy life.” Shortage was a daily word - lack of food, clothes, etc. meant people would get the basics through connections or embezzle items from their workplace.

Samvel spent hours listening to his grandfather’s stories, full of anecdotes and gossip. He liked repeating that, “it was not true that there was no sex in the USSR.” In Soviet times “sex” was a dirty word, charged with negative connotations. In1986Liudmila Ivanova, a popular actress, said in a TV show, US-Soviet Space Bridge, that "there is no sex in USSR...there is love." The last part of the sentence though was cut and the first part became a popular catch phrase, up to now.

“Ask my grandpa and women from the nearby street, they will confirm that there was sex,” smiles Samvel.

Temurnots

The prototype of a Soviet cafe, Temurnots (Temur’s Place) used to serve the best beer in town - until 1978. In November 2016 the cafe reopened, on the same premises, maintaining the same details as much as possible. Temur’s Plate, a dish of fried potatoes and sausages, is a big hit, like it was in the cafe’s of the Soviet heydays. Ruben Harutyunyan, 30, Gurgen Mkhitaryan, 31, Davit Grigoryan, 32, are fond of the cafe.