Lars Hector: Skåne in my heart

If party planner Lars Hector had to choose, he would gladly take the train, while his husband Abbe would rather fly. He often gives lectures about the 1970s and 1980s in Malmö, focusing on the Trocadero club, which he ran from 1978 to 1984, and he also likes to talk about his dear friend Anita Ekberg.

– I’ll have to live with Trocadero for the rest of my life. It’s like my “long, furry tail”….

As soon as someone arrived in Malmö, they were told they had to go to Trocadeo, Malmö’s number one watering hole, which was open every day of the week. There were many drag shows, a new phenomenon at the time, and very popular. The newspapers wrote a lot about Trocadero. As soon as they had a new show, it was reviewed in the newspapers, and the celebrity journalists were there. Lars worked “around the clock”.

– I was only 30 years old at the time and full of energy.

Politically involved

Recently, he was nominated for the church council. He is also chairman of the KD Skåne seniors, sits on the board in Malmö, and also sits on the region's cultural committee.

– I'm really passionate about KD. I was quite apolitical before. If I voted, I voted for M - KD used to be anti-everything! It just so happened that we were invited on a cruise by Dan Olofsson, and I got Alf Svensson, who was the famous party leader at the time, to the table. So I thought, damn it, I'll get a hold of him, but he charmed me completely instead. He's an absolutely fantastic person, educated, cultured, and with a heart of gold!

He said to Lars: – I don't understand what you mean. Have you read our party book?

– No, Lars replied, but I read what's written about you in the newspapers.

– Read the party book instead, Alf replied.

– After reading parts of the KD party book, I realized that I am also a Christian Democrat!

Likes to travel

Lars loves to travel and has traveled extensively throughout his life.

– I have always thought that I can take Sweden when I get older. Thanks to KD, I now get to see many places in Sweden. There are national assemblies and other things that take me to Karlstad, Örebro, and several other places.

– It has been fun to get out a little more and see. For example, I have not been to real Norrland. I was a bit bad at geography in school, but Umeå and Örnsköldsvik are probably the places at the top of the list I have visited.

Skåne is his favorite county. When they have guests, they like to show Brantevik and all of the wonderful Österlen.

– A new place I recently discovered is Häckeberga Castle. The Thamm family, who own it, have rented it out and “toughened up” the castle, turning it into something incredibly delicious. It has become my new favorite place.

Well-planned trips

Lars likes to be well prepared before he travels. He likes to Google beforehand and likes to write an itinerary for the trip.

Recently, when he celebrated his birthday with 30 friends in Rome, he arranged for them to stay at the classic Excelsior, which is located in the middle of Via Veneto.

– I had contacted the hotel manager beforehand, and I pulled all the stops I could. The idea was that the highlight would be meeting Pope Francis again, but unfortunately, the Pope fell ill with pneumonia. Lars has met the Pope on previous occasions – the first meeting was at a personal audience, and Lars took the opportunity to say hello to Anita Ekberg. He knew that basically all Argentine men literally adore Anita – and took it for granted that the Pope did too. He was right. They immediately established personal contact, and the Pope wanted to know everything about Anita, how she was doing, and where she lived. He knew that she lived in the areas around Rome. It was truly an odd audience that Lars will of course remember forever!

Not to exaggerate, Lars invited his friends to a maximum of 1 program per day. There was lots of good food of course and they were in Cinecittà, Rome's film city and equivalent to Hollywood.

The last night they were at the Convent of Saint Birgitta, which is located in the middle of Rome - the beautiful convent and guesthouse of the Birgitta sisters is located in the middle of historic Rome on Piazza Farnese, just a stone's throw from Campo dei Fiori (the flower square). It is a Catholic convent, where the Church of Sweden also holds masses.

- It was the best dinner we have had. The food there is magical and absolutely fantastic.

Malmö is also very close to Lars' heart, where he lives and has done so much for.

Every 5 years, Lars and his husband, Abbe, throw big parties to celebrate their being together. A couple of years ago, they threw a big party in Caroli Church in Malmö, which had recently been de-Christianized.

– I invited everyone and only wrote the street address, without telling where it was. The food came from Sirius Palace. We stayed up all night. Friends had traveled there from Italy, Morocco, and Stockholm.

Morocco

Lars had a winter home in Morocco for 20 years. It started when he visited a friend who had moved there.

– When I saw how nice he was, I decided that this is how I wanted it to be. I went down to write my book about the times with Trocadeo, but there was a lot of partying, so it took me 8 years to write it, haha. After a while, I became quite fluent in French. Everyone recognized me in Agadir and greeted me on the streets. A bit the same feeling as in Malmö.

The next planned trip is to Karlstad.

– I prefer to travel by train, but my husband, Abbe, of course, wants to fly. And he usually wins. I prefer to sit in peace and quiet on a train and read. Fiction is Lars's great interest.

Own a business early on

Lars was born and raised in Lund, Sweden. He started studying economics, but had already started a company by the age of 16, so he never finished his studies. His grandmother was born in America to Swedish parents.

– She wrote to us very often. On the back of the envelope was always a rubberized label with her name and address. At that time, I thought that this might suit the Swedish market.

So he contacted a printer. There was not much money. There were four siblings who lived with their single mother, who also worked full-time as the head telephone operator at the well-known Lund company Åkerlund & Rausing.

– I contacted a few newspapers and magazines and called and ordered advertisements. I was very verbal even as a young man. I got these advertisements published in Expressen, Aftonbladet, Veckans Affärer and Dagens Nyheter. There was no suspicion and no fraud at that time.

Responses from the advertisements poured in. I sold 1000 rubberized name labels for SEK 14.60 plus postage, or SEK 15 in cash with the order. SEK 15 was no small sum in 1967.

– Every penny that came in the envelopes was fantastic. I had the company until I was 23, then I got tired of it, so I sold it to a friend who still runs it today. The company Lunda-Produkter (Lundaproduktioner) today has a turnover of SEK 100 million per year.

Trocadero

– When I was 19, I came out as gay. There were no places in Lund at the time. A friend took me out to a place in Malmö called Siesta.

– I was in a slum in Ljungbyhed F5. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and my captain in the military came in. "Help!" I said. "What should I do?"

But he didn't need to worry. The captain was there for the same reason as him.

Around the same time, a Norwegian restaurateur thought he would open the back pocket of Hotel Tunneln in Malmö as a gay club. It became incredibly popular, but it only lasted six months. Then the state-owned Sara companies closed the club. Eight years later, Lars passed by the premises. At that time, the property was run by a bankruptcy trustee. -I contacted them and asked if I could open, and they said yes. My husband, Abbe, is very social. We had many contacts at the theater in Malmö, and we had many parties at our house, so many people wanted to come to the club's premiere. The rest is de facto history.

– When we opened the club, we had a lot of good shows. Tommy Körberg, Anita Lindbom, and a lot of other celebrities were there. When Carola won the Melodifestivalen in 1983, the after-party was at Lars' club. Sveriges Radio had booked it. 600 people were going to eat and drink.

– Half an hour before the party was supposed to start, the producer Kåge Glimtell and the police chief called me and told me that the place was under a bomb threat.

They said Lars had to decide what to do. It was a terribly difficult decision for Lars to make. After thinking for a while, he said:

– I think this is a hoax, so let's go!

At that time, bombs weren't that common. The party was a success and went on well into the night. There was no bomb.

52 years together

Lars was 23 when he met Abbe. They have been together for 52 years.

– So you start to get used to it. He is secure and has a great sense of humor. We laugh every day.

They don't need to sit on each other's laps all the time. They are independent. Abbe is a professor of architecture in Lund.

– It has been a lot of work for him. But when I ran Trocadero, he supported me and was there every night. He was also responsible for the award-winning interior design, which is now on display in ArkDes at Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

In December 1983, Lars was suspected of tax fraud. He was arrested and spent 3 weeks in prison during the preliminary investigation.

– It was terrible. In the meantime, my entire company collapsed. I had to declare it bankrupt. 2 years later, a trial was held where he was acquitted of everything, but by then it was already too late. Then he had lost his life's work.

Abu Dhabi, Sulan, piano bar, and Gustav Adolf

After that he worked for 2 years in Abu Dhabi 1985–1986 and helped them open up the country to tourists. When the Kuwait crisis came, he decided to leave.

– Those were fantastic years. I loved the environment. I bought and sold diamonds to the Arabs.

When I came home to Malmö, Hotel Kramer engaged me to open a nightclub in the basement that I named "SULAN". At the same time, "my mother" bought a small hotel in Gamla Väster, which turned out to be a good deal.

After Sulan, the Sheraton Hotel was to open in Malmö, with a piano bar that Lars took care of.

– I brought very famous artists there, and the success was not long in coming.

In 1991, he opened "Rest & Café Gustav Adolf" in the former premises of Braun's patisserie in the middle of Gustav Adolf Square, and ran it very successfully for 14 years. Then it was Morocco.

Favorite places

When someone from outside comes to visit Malmö, he and Abbe usually show Västra Hamnen and Turning Torso, then they drive into Kungsparken and show the Milles Statue and Malmö City Library.

– We have many favorite restaurants in Malmö, such as Stures, Ruth, Bullens, Atmosfär, Via Napoli, and Trattorian. If we are on Näset, we like to go to JP's in Skanör. And when we don't know where to eat in Malmö, we go to the absolutely wonderful Grand Hotel in Lund.