Street Junk is King at Bandung's All-Night Cafe Trotoart

The city of Bandung, West Java, rolled out a de-facto midnight curfew back in 2014 in an apparent attempt to curb late-night crime. Not that it matters to Cafe Trotoart. The eclectic beer garden and cafe can't close. It doesn't have any gates to lock.

Trotoart is a testament to DIY creativity. Owner Donny Zleer decorated the cafe in rusted-out street junk, giving the place a vibe that's artsy, eccentric, and run down. It's like the place is part junk yard, part Mad Max art bar, and part Hoarders episode.

VICE Indonesia: So how long has this place has been around?
Andri Setiawan: It opened in 2000, so probably around 16 years, closing in on 17. Sweet seventeen, haha.

So, who designed this place?
Andri: Brother Donny, the owner. During his college years, he was living on the streets. It probably inspired him to bring the streets into his home.

Has the curfew affected business at all? 
Andri: The curfew doesn't really bother cafés that much. It was mostly meant to stop anyone from doing anything illegal. How do I explain it? It's like they're blaming all the crimes at night on the presence of cafes. But it's not all like that. Some crimes are committed by biker gangs and other groups. But they're implying like people go to cafes, get drunk, and then go out committing crimes.

Is the rule effective?
Andri: We don't really follow if there are any effects. But in our observation, it's mostly the same old stuff. Well, maybe it gets a bit dead sometimes.

But this place is 24 hours, right?
Andri: It's open 24 hours. 
Ari Agustian: But it's because we can't close.

So, you guys are always on the clock?
Andri: Not really. 
Ari: We just stay open because we don't have any gates to close. [Laughs] Like all the doors, we always stay open.

So is the curfew still going on?
Andri:  It's still around, but from what I recall, it's been pushed back until 2 a.m. But we haven't heard anything official from the local administration, government, or anything. It's just somehow loosened up as time goes by. Maybe the crime rate is down a bit, because it seems like it.

So the concept of the place is that it fits in with the natural surroundings right?
Ari: It's just like the streets, right? You have the sidewalk there, the roads there. Then, as time goes on, we don't renovate it at all. We don't add anything. We maybe just clean the place up a bit. Even the ornamental stuff, like the tall grass, everything here just got here on its own.