by JULIET WATERS

"This place is my immortality."

Kathy Kandyba leans back in her chair and stretches her arms wide to take in all of Kandy Bar, a home-away-from-home she has created for artists on the Main.

The next minute she's pulling a laptop from behind the bar and, like a proud parent, showing photos taken at various happenings since the restaurant opened eight months ago.

For 12 years at la Cabane, Kandyba was everybody's favourite waitress because, she says, "I never screwed up an order and I took care of everybody." She, in turn, was drawn to the actors and singers among the patrons. Kandyba found them "not materialistic - just great people." She earned a business degree from UQÀM and always dreamed of having her own place. Last spring the stars aligned and she was able to bring Kandy Bar to life.

With its exposed brick wall lined with 8-by-10s of Montreal actors, the cozy space now rivals Cabane as an after-rehearsal, after-show hangout. Postcards and flyers for current and upcoming shows are tucked under the glass tabletops.

After some experimentation, Kandyba has settled on 5 p.m.-3 a.m. opening hours seven nights a week ("my clientele doesn't do lunch") and a permanent menu featuring "comfort foods" like a goat cheese pizza and "my mom's pierogies." A second menu changes every two weeks, to prevent both chef Steve Townsend and the regulars from getting bored.

Tsultrum8 Theatre held their opening night party there, Temenos their closing cast party. The Fringe announced its 2005 line-up there in early December. These are not private parties; other patrons are welcome to wander in and join the fun, and chances are everyone will know everyone anyway. The community already existed; Kandy Bar has just given it a place to call home.

Kandy Bar is at 4147 St-Laurent, just below Rachel. A Web site should be up and running at www.kandybar.ca early in 2005.