This photochrome print of Arabs at a café in Algiers is part of “Views of People and Sites in Algeria” from the catalog of the Detroit Publishing Company (1905). The 1911 edition of Baedeker’s The Mediterranean, seaports and sea routes: Handbook for Travellers described the old city of Algiers as presenting “a highly attractive picture of Oriental life.” Arabs were the dominant group in the population, then as now, but many of the people were Berbers or from other Mahgribi population groups. Baedeker stated that “a few streets only, with small mosques, coffee-houses, and shops, show signs of life in the daytime, and that chiefly on Fridays and Saturdays.” Coffeehouses played an important role as the place where men gathered to socialize and to discuss issues such as religion, business, or politics.