Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia | Book
Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia
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25.01.2022 The Silver Key Café Orange, NSW, early 1930s Chris Chellas left the Greek Peloponnese for Australia in early 1912. His daughter, Maude (Modestoula), was born in December 1911. Thirteen years would pass before she and her mother, Kyriakoula (née Semenis), joined Chris in Australia. ... In 1933, Maude married George Kringas. George, who owned the Rose Marie Café in Orange in central New South Wales, had migrated from the Peloponnese in 1923. "My father had the Silver Key Café in Orange. The Rose Marie was my husband’s The original Rose Marie was burnt down [1928] before we were married it was then relocated just up from its original site I met my husband in Orange he would sweep the footpath outside his café and I would sweep the footpath outside my father’s [both were on Summer Street]. We would see each other and talk We used to work long hours in the cafés till twelve at night In Dad’s shop, he didn’t want me there when the drunks called We used to get this 'dago' business We didn’t have a social life We [my husband and I] had always said that when our kids grew up we would see Australia. Unfortunately the café was a business, we had to keep making a living." Photo courtesy M. Kringas, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
24.01.2022 Saraton Picture Theatre Grafton, NSW, 2006 The Saraton Picture Theatre, which is still operating, was opened in 1926. Built by two brothers, John (Ioannis) and Anthony Notaras from the Greek island of Kythera, the family still retains ownership. Reversing the family surname created the cinema’s unusual name. In 1940 the interior of the theatre was completely remodelled along the Art Deco styling associated with metropolitan cinemas of the time. The Notaras brothers also owned... the Fitzroy Theatre in Grafton. Greeks have had a long association with film presentation in Australia initially as travelling picture show men and then as picture theatre owners and proprietors. It has been claimed that ‘during the heyday of the country picture theatre circuit in New South Wales, more than half of the theatres were owned by Greek migrants’. Quite a respectable number of Greek picture theatre owners or operators within Australia had been, or simultaneously continued to be, café proprietors. Three, George Conson (Georgeantopoulos), Sir Nicholas Laurantus and John (Jack) Kouvelis, actually established cinema chains. Of the three, Kouvelis, who developed a renowned statewide picture theatre circuit under his J. K. Capitol Theatres Pty Ltd company, was the largest. In 1946 he sold his cinema holdings to Hoyts. Photo by Effy Alexakis, courtesy State Library of New South Wales, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR RELATED STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
24.01.2022 Advertisement for the Niagara Café, ‘Australia’s Wonder Café’ Gundagai, NSW, 1934 The Niagara, which still survives, is a magnificent example of the classic country Greek café. Initially established around 1902 by a Kytherian Greek, Strati Notaras, the business has remained in Greek hands the Castrission family ran it for most of the twentieth century (1919-1983). ... The café’s Art Deco interior and exterior were created in 1938, transforming a simple eating-house into a food-catering ‘pleasure palace’, delighting both eye and appetite. Promoted as ‘Australia’s Wonder Café’, during its long history the Niagara has been frequented by film stars and politicians most notably, wartime Prime Minister John Curtin and his War Cabinet, for a hearty midnight meal of steak and eggs in 1942. In names such as the Niagara, Monterey, California, Astoria, Hollywood, New York, and Golden Gate, the American component of Australia’s Greek café is obvious. By the mid to late 1930s Greek cafés had firmly cemented the growing popularisation of American food-catering ideas, technology and products that had been instigated through Australia’s earlier Greek-run food-catering enterprises the oyster saloon or ‘parlor’, the American-style soda/sundae ‘parlor’ and the American-style milk bar. Advertisement courtesy J. Castrission, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
21.01.2022 Advertisement for the Niagara Café, ‘Australia’s Wonder Café’ Gundagai, NSW, 1934 The Niagara, which still survives, is a magnificent example of the classic country Greek café. Initially established around 1902 by a Kytherian Greek, Strati Notaras, the business has remained in Greek hands the Castrission family ran it for most of the twentieth century (1919-1983). ... The café’s Art Deco interior and exterior were created in 1938, transforming a simple eating-house into a food-catering ‘pleasure palace’, delighting both eye and appetite. Promoted as ‘Australia’s Wonder Café’, during its long history the Niagara has been frequented by film stars and politicians most notably, wartime Prime Minister John Curtin and his War Cabinet, for a hearty midnight meal of steak and eggs in 1942. In names such as the Niagara, Monterey, California, Astoria, Hollywood, New York, and Golden Gate, the American component of Australia’s Greek café is obvious. By the mid to late 1930s Greek cafés had firmly cemented the growing popularisation of American food-catering ideas, technology and products that had been instigated through Australia’s earlier Greek-run food-catering enterprises the oyster saloon or ‘parlor’, the American-style soda/sundae ‘parlor’ and the American-style milk bar. Advertisement courtesy J. Castrission, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
20.01.2022 https://greekherald.com.au//debut-book-andrew-pippos-shin/
19.01.2022 Arthur Auguste (Athanasios Avgoustis) with his family outside their oyster saloon Barrack Street, Perth, WA, 1915 Left to right: Dorothy (Dorothea), Arthur, George, Mary (Maria), Eve (Evthokia), Anthony, Denny (Demetrios) and Panaula (née Panayoula Komninou). ... Auguste is considered to have been the first Greek from the island of Kastellorizo to settle in Western Australia. It is also claimed that he subsequently influenced many of his compatriots to emigrate there Kastellorizians became the dominant regional group of Greeks in Western Australia. Auguste fled Kastellorizo following a skirmish between a Turkish patrol vessel and a caique on which he was a crew member. After a short period of employment with the Suez Canal Company in Egypt, he worked his way to Singapore, and then sailed for Broome around 1888. He initially worked in the port’s pearling industry, and following a brief period in Fremantle, left for Adelaide. He was naturalised in 1896 at Semaphore, a seaside Adelaide suburb where he worked as a seaman and fisherman. Soon after, he returned to Western Australia. Utilising his knowledge of oysters gained from his pearling experiences, Auguste began oyster farming along the Swan River at East Fremantle, where he also established the Oyster Beds restaurant this was the start of his occupation as a fish and oyster wholesaler and retailer. Later, Auguste opened an oyster saloon in Perth’s Barrack Street. The three-storied building also provided accommodation for newly arrived Greeks. Auguste gradually acquired other buildings, became a supplier of oysters to other oyster saloons proprietors, and was one of the first individuals to own a motor car in Perth. In 1904, Auguste returned to Port Said to marry his fiancée, Panaula (Panayoula) Komninou. Well educated (she spoke Greek, French, Arabic and a little English) and well-to-do, when Panaula landed at Fremantle wearing her Paris-style clothes, her high expectations of Australian society and its Greeks were shattered: ‘What have I come to?... It isn’t even civilized’. Even though Auguste had succeeded in becoming one of the most respected and wealthiest Greeks in Western Australia, Panaula maintained a deep, life-long regret for having forfeited the high-society life-style she had enjoyed amongst Egypt’s professional classes. Nevertheless, she and Arthur successfully raised nine children together: Eve (Evthokia), Mary (Maria), George, Dorothy (Dorothea), Anthony Denny (Demetrios), Helene, Evangelia and Nina (Athina). Photo courtesy E. Mirmikidis, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
17.01.2022 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN GREEK CAFES, THEN THIS IS A MUST READ! https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760787332/
17.01.2022 Max Morris (Moraitis) Adelaide, SA, 2006 Max was born Max Spiridon Moraitis in 1922 in Athens. His parents were Spiridon Moraitis and Maragda Vendouras. Max's father and paternal grandparents parents were Ithacan.... ‘They [Dad’s parents] had a small olive farm in Ithaca. He left for Australia when he was fifteen around 1888. He was going to America, then South Africa, but finally decided on Australia He opened the Morris Café in 1890. Initially he specialised in fish, chips and oysters [and] later introduced braised steak. Steak and eggs was the most popular meal [Eventually] he had cubicles in the café like a passenger train. He could seat 112 people The café was a popular meeting place for country people at Royal Show time, and for the test cricket. My father purchased a radio and placed it in the dining room for the benefit of his customers to hear the test broadcasts. He would listen to these intently and he always knew the score, as invariably it was the first thing customers asked about as they walked in through the door. He would reply something like, England, four wickets down for 200. On one occasion he turned to me and asked, Son, what’s a wicket? The café was near the Theatre Royal world class. The stars would come and eat at the café Roger Livesly, Googie Whithers, Joe E. Brown. I remember Sabrina and the La Scala Opera Company. The greatest of the lot was Tommy Steele Parliamentarians had their meals at the Morris Café... We finally closed the shop in the early 60s.’ Photo by Effy Alexakis, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
15.01.2022 Comino’s Cosmopolitan Oyster ‘Parlors’ 136 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, c. 1895 Zacharia Comino was the proprietor. Note the American spelling of ‘parlor’.... Greek-run oyster saloons or ‘parlors’ were pioneered in Sydney by the Comino (Kominos) family, originally from the Greek island of Kythera. Initially these were fish-and-chip outlets, and although they maintained a focus on oysters (bottled, cooked and fresh), they soon acquired a wide diversity of foods (cooked meat and seafood, fruit and vegetables, chocolates and ice cream) that could be purchased at reasonable prices. These enterprises provided sit-down meals in men’s and women’s lounges and welcomed families. While the diversification of food and a broad customer range are possible American influences, the recognition that these Greek-run businesses essentially introduced to Australia, en masse, the American soda fountain, and ‘American-style’ candy, ice cream and ice drinks (freezes or crushes), is beyond doubt. The first Comino oyster saloon was established by Athanasios Comino in 1878 at 36 Oxford Street, Paddington, in Sydney another Greek, John Capatchos (Kapazzo/Kapazzos) was operating an oyster saloon in Sydney’s King Street a year earlier, but it was the Cominos who succeeded in securing a significant Greek presence in these food-catering enterprises. The Comino Oxford Street site had been occupied by a Greek fishmonger from the later 1850s. In 1870, given the burgeoning trend of destination shopping on the street, the premises became an oyster saloon. Athanasios, together with his brother, John (Ioannis), also became oyster farmers, supplying the rapidly growing number of Greek-run oyster saloons. Their prominence in this industry was such that both received the title, ‘Oyster King’. Other Greeks around the country also became oyster famers supplying the demand for the mollusc to both Greek and non-Greek oyster saloons. Photo by Charles Bayliss, courtesy State Library of New South Wales, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
14.01.2022 The Silver Key Café Orange, NSW, early 1930s Chris Chellas left the Greek Peloponnese for Australia in early 1912. His daughter, Maude (Modestoula), was born in December 1911. Thirteen years would pass before she and her mother, Kyriakoula (née Semenis), joined Chris in Australia. ... In 1933, Maude married George Kringas. George, who owned the Rose Marie Café in Orange in central New South Wales, had migrated from the Peloponnese in 1923. "My father had the Silver Key Café in Orange. The Rose Marie was my husband’s The original Rose Marie was burnt down [1928] before we were married it was then relocated just up from its original site I met my husband in Orange he would sweep the footpath outside his café and I would sweep the footpath outside my father’s [both were on Summer Street]. We would see each other and talk We used to work long hours in the cafés till twelve at night In Dad’s shop, he didn’t want me there when the drunks called We used to get this 'dago' business We didn’t have a social life We [my husband and I] had always said that when our kids grew up we would see Australia. Unfortunately the café was a business, we had to keep making a living." Photo courtesy M. Kringas, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
14.01.2022 Crethar’s Air-Conditioned Café flood damage 142 Molesworth Street, Lismore, NSW, 1945 Angelo Crethar, the shop’s proprietor, had his existing sundae shop/café refurbished in 1939 in the latest Art Deco architectural style that emphasised the curvilinear California’s ‘Streamline Moderne’. The result was stunning. Hailed as ‘very progressive and ritzy’, the café featured air-conditioning, external neon signage, opulent decorative surfaces throughout, an inter-house telephon...e system, an upstairs banquet room, a separate pastry kitchen, a dumb waiter, silver service, an electric dishwasher, electric toasters and grillers, a electric oven for cakes and pastries, electric slicers, an electric waffle maker, and a soda fountain service bar in excess of 34 feet in length (over 10 metres). So keen were people to dine in and experience such a modern establishment, that during peak periods such as before or after attending the picture theatre long queues would form down the street. Crethar’s café is an outstanding example of the transmission of fantasies of American popular culture by Greek-Australian food caterers. For many of those who frequented the enterprise it offered them not simply upmarket social dining, but an Australian version of the American Dream. In June 1945, Lismore was devastated by floods, leaving thousands homeless. It was reported that the Richmond River had swept through the town, ‘like a tidal wave’. The estimated damage bill was 500,000. In Molesworth Street, water rose to seven feet (over 2 meters) above the roadway and ‘in one café, water overturned an eight-ton soda fountain worth 900’. Angelo Crethar’s wife Margot (nee Soutter) recalls: ‘the water was rising at about a foot a minute it was so quick the beautiful Art Deco fountain [the soda fountain counter] fell over but we cleaned up, repaired, and got on with things.’ Photo by Oscar J. Riley, courtesy M. Crethar, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
13.01.2022 Kosta’s Café 67 James Street, Northbridge, Perth, WA, 2006 Litsa Serras (nee Papadopoulos) with her daughter Alexandra. Both are part of the family team running Kosta’s Café. The other two members are Kosta (Konstandinos), Litsa’s husband, and Dionisis, the couple’s son. Northbridge was a traditional Greek area in Perth.... Litsa: "Our customers are mostly business people, Tax Office and bank workers. The Greeks that were around here have mostly moved out. This is the only business we’ve ever had Mr and Mrs Athans had it before us for 30 years. It was called the Pan-Hellenic Newsagency. We bought it twelve years ago as a newsagency, but with new technology [the World Wide Web providing digital news and publications], sales dropped. We had to change so we introduced the café. That was six years ago We try to give personal service we try to remember what people order, what they prefer. We are here for tomorrow and the day after that, and so on... We work very hard it is very demanding. But for me, my children are my wealth. They are halfway through their degrees now After that, our future in the café will depend on what the children are up to." Today, Kosta's Café has become Chet's Café . Photo by Effy Alexakis, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
12.01.2022 Irene Kanaris, Rendezvous Café Darwin, NT, 1954 Irene’s father was from the island of Astipalea. Her mother was born in Piraeus. In 1957 she married a Greek-Cypriot, Paul Pantazis, who was working in her family’s café. They then ran the business together.... ‘My father died in 1953 so I had to learn at a very early age to run the shop It wasn’t my choice, it was made for me All our perishables [chocolates, sweets, iced cream] would come from Western Australia. Mick Paspalis had the Peters Ice Cream agency [Paspalis later became a director of Pauls NT Ltd which locally produced ice cream and bottled Coca Cola] To make the milkshakes we had powdered milk Sunshine Milk. No fresh milk We had Hamilton Beach milkshake makers I think We also made Spiders [ice cream sodas] and had a variety of sundaes Only one picture theatre The Star We really worked hard at interval time We got a jukebox in the shop around 1958 or 59. Bill Haley was the craze at that time It changed the business you got a different clientele We also got air-conditioning around 1957 one of the first air-conditioners in a restaurant in Darwin!’ Photo courtesy Pantazis family, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
10.01.2022 Busy Bee Café, Constandinos Kostas with his mother Katina Casuarina Shopping Centre, Darwin, NT, 2006 Constandinos Kostas runs the Busy Bee Café in the Casuarina Shopping Centre (the largest retail shopping complex in the Northern Territory). His family have been involved in food catering since the mid-1970s.... Constandinos: ‘We called the shop the Busy Bee because people kept saying we were busy as bees In this business it is very stressful, you can’t take time off. Seven-days-a-week My mother, Katina [nee Kreppapas] works here. She doesn’t want to retire. We have about thirteen staff for Monday to Friday and then the weekend staff We have Greek pastries they are good sellers We sell lots of roasts The salad bar is good We have healthy food on one side and chips, gravy and that lot of food on the other. ’ Many Greek cafés in Australia during the first-half of the twentieth century adopted the name Busy Bee from their counterparts in the United States Constandinos is,unknowingly, maintaining that legacy. Photo by Effy Alexakis, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
10.01.2022 The Nicholson family outside the Alpine Café Batlow, NSW, c. 1940 James (Demetrios) and Sophia Nicholson (Nicholidakis), were married in Crete during the late 1920s before migrating to Australia. The Nicholsons had six children. James worked with his brother Angelo Nicholidakis in the Silver Star Café in Cootamundra before taking up an opportunity to buy a café in Batlow the Alpine Café. The Mountain Maid Cannery and the farming of fruit and vegetables in the region support...ed the town’s businesses, including the café, throughout the 1930s. During World War II, the Australian Women’s Land Army maintained the region’s economic stimulus, and the café did well. In 1944, James succumbed to stomach cancer. Marina, one of the couple's daughters, reflects upon her parents, and particularly her mother's strength of character: "They were very brave You don’t realise until you get older how brave they actually were especially for Mum who became a widow. She dealt with it because she was so strong that’s the Cretan in her She never dwelt on it [Yet] it was a bigger crisis to lose her husband and be left to care for the children than it was for her to leave and lose her homeland Dimitra [the youngest child] was born after Dad died." Photo courtesy M. Zachariou, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
10.01.2022 Kalgoorlie/Boulder race riots George Kalaf’s Majestic Café, Kalgoorlie, WA, 1934 The presence of racism within the Australian community also impacted upon those Greeks who ran or worked in Greek cafés. One cultural commentator, Hsu Ming Teo, has suggested that ‘the fact that the culture which they [Greek-Australians] chose to import and transmit to Australia [via the Greek café] was modern American rather than traditional Greek says much about the fascination and safety o...f American culture for Greek-Australians in the age of White Australia’. Major race riots had occurred in Sydney in 1915, in Perth in 1916, and in Kalgoorlie together with its twin settlement, Boulder, in 1916 and 1919. During the Depression, race riots again broke out in Kalgoorlie and Boulder, and numerous foreign-owned homes, stores, cafés and hotels, including those of the towns’ Greek residents, were destroyed or damaged and looted. The riots lasted for two days, over the Australia Day weekend of 29 and 30 January, 1934. At night, the skyline was ablaze. It was estimated that over 1,000 people were involved, two men were killed and a number injured. The financial cost of the damage was conservatively put at 100,000. Photo courtesy G. Samios, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
05.01.2022 Wrote this review about a new Greek epic coming out from Picador, with nods to Effy Alexakis & Leonard Janiszewski. It's a good book. Definitely a summer read.
05.01.2022 Greek-run oyster saloon ‘The Latest American Drinks’ Most probably Mount Perry, Qld, c. 1908 Gregory Casimaty (Kasimatis), who later opened Tasmania’s first Greek-run café in Hobart, is standing on the far right. Arriving in Australia in 1905, Gregory initially washed dishes in the Acropolis Café in Pitt Street, Sydney, before leaving for Queensland where he took up jobs in a number of Greek-run food-catering enterprises in different towns: Brisbane, Mount Perry, Kingaroy a...nd Crows Nest (Sydney). Standing in the centre is probably the oyster saloon's proprietor, John Cassimatis (Yannis Kasimatis), who had established the business in 1906. He too, like Gregory, had arrived in Australia in 1905. Both had originated from the island of Kythera and were relatives. John had worked in Sydney and Gympie (Qld) prior to settling in Mount Perry. He appears to have continued trading until around 1912. This photograph evidences a typical Greek-run oyster saloon shop front of the period. Fresh fruit and confectionery (in bottles on top shelf) are displayed in the window on the left, while fresh oysters and preserved meats (amongst other items) are displayed in the window on the right. The window on the left also displays signage that includes the statement, ‘The Latest American Drinks’: a soda fountain had obviously been installed. Photo courtesy G. Casimaty, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
02.01.2022 Musicola jukebox, Brown’s Milk Bar Perth, WA, c. 1955 Basil Stratos (Hadjiefstrateou) from Mytilini (Lesbos) purchased Brown’s Café in central Perth’s Barrack Street in 1953. Around 1955 he introduced a jukebox. Local male youth gangs of ‘Bodgies’ (given to wearing tight-fitting trousers, slicked-back hair and behaving wildly) accompanied by ‘Widgies’ (female ‘Bogies’), would regularly frequent the milk bar to be entertained by their favourite tune while downing an ‘American ...Thickshake’ or sundae treat. By the early 1950s, jukeboxes were featured in a number of Greek cafés and milk bars as part of their entertainment component the trend had initially commenced during World War II as a means of providing familiar entertainment for American servicemen on leave. American and British popular music were heard in these establishments well before their broad acceptance on Australian radio. Consequently, ‘in the late 1950s, the Rock’n’Roll generation embraced the ‘Top 40’. American and British popular music attracted a youth clientele and culture to these Greek cafés and milk bars, many young Australians mimicking the clothing, attitude and language of their overseas singing idols. Sanding next to the jukebox is Stan (Stellios) Stratos, Basil’s nephew. Photo courtesy P. Stratos, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University, Sydney THIS, AND MANY MORE CAFE & MILK BAR STORIES CAN BE FOUND IN "Greek Cafés & Milk Bars of Australia" (Halstead Press, 2016): http://www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
01.01.2022 REMEMBERING A BEAUTIFUL FRIEND. Rest in peace dear Paul. Paul Calokerinos, Canberra Café... Manilla, NSW, 2017 Paul migrated to Australia from Kythera in 1948. Unlike the majority of other migrants of the period, he arrived by plane. After working in the Andrew Glitzos’ Walcha Café and then Tamworth’s Ritz Café run by the Varipatis brothers, he entered into partnership in 1950 with an uncle Bill Summers who had the Golden Bell Café in Tamworth and a cousin John Trevassaros in two Manilla cafés: the Canberra Café and the York Café. Paul managed the York, and his cousin, the Canberra. In 1954, Paul’s uncle sold his share of the businesses and eleven years later, so did Paul’s cousin. In 1961, Paul returned to Kythera and married Helen Petrohilos. They have three Australian-born children: Kathy, Mary and John. "At the end of the First World War, Jack Smiles Yannis Kalokerinos came to Manilla from Walgett and set up a café In 1927, he built the Canberra Café, named in recognition of the opening of Parliament House in Canberra. Smiles was helped by a cousin, Phillip Feros, who managed the York Café At one stage there were five cafés in Manilla Trade from the Palais Picture Theatre helped the cafés In the 60s we had a jukebox [initially installed during the late 1950s] and a billiard table to bring in the young ones after the Keepit Dam was finished in 61, that’s when lots of shops started to close. We closed the York in 65 we’ve been lucky here in Manilla now there is no competition, we’re the last surviving café I think I’m part of the town here, more than I am Kytherian." In 2017 the Canberra Cafe was up for sale. It is now no more, but like its cherished proprietor, it will live on in memory as an important part of the lives of many. Photo by Effy Alexakis, from the "In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians", Macquarie University, Sydney
01.01.2022 Documentary photographer EFFY ALEXAKIS' exhibition in ATHENS features some of her stunning Greek cafe and milk bar images. The exhibition will be on display at Shedia Home, Kolokotroni 56, Athens, Greece.
