Greek milk bars and cafes of the 1950s to Australia
The Black & White Fruit Milk Bar in Wollongong (above) which was taken over in 1956 by brothers Peter, Harry and Theo Tambakis and so successful that other Greek-run milk bars soon appeared. The milk bar attendants' uniforms were an important 'visual branding' and styles differed from one cafe to another
Stylish Greek milk bars were in every Australian suburb and country town
Since the 1930s Greek families opened them all hours seven days a week
They had American names like the Niagara, Astoria and the Paragon
The cafes were decorated in glamorous art deco style
They served steak and eggs, American ice cream sundaes and chips
Evocative images from family albums are collected in stunning new book
'Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia' has hundreds of images and stories
They had names like the Paragon, the Niagara, the Astoria and the California cafe and they graced the main streets of country towns around Australia with their iconic art deco style interiors and their offer of 'exotic' American style meals.
For Australians from the 1940s and for decades after the milk bars and cafes often run by Greek immigrant families provided a taste of exciting food and a glamorous retreat from ordinary life.
Some were attached to picture show houses, making the link to Hollywood escapism even stronger, and they were the best place to find the previously unknown American milk chocolate and ice cream sundaes in towns where the only alternative dining out venue was the local pub.
Virtually every Australian town and suburb once had a Greek cafe or milk bar. They did not serve Greek food but were run by Greeks serving Australian food of the time - steak and eggs; mixed grill and chips with lettuce, tomato and beetroot, tinned spaghetti on toast, sliced white bread and butter, tea and milkshakes.
They flourished in country towns like Longreach in Queensland, Narrandera, Nyngan, Cootamundra and Gundagai in NSW as well as in capital cities around the nation.
Perth's first milk bar, the Golden Star Milk Bar in Perth operated by Stavros and John Coufos, who are pictured in the centre behind the counter, opened in 1935. The brothers, from the Greek island of Kastellorizo, sparked a string of similar establishments across the city
Sisters Marion (left) and Julie Canaris in their parents' Star Milk Bar in Darwin in 1948 which proved to be a 'real money spinner' selling ice creams, milkshakes, scorched almonds, lemon squash, Cherry Ripes and cigarettes'. A Greek lady made the uniforms and people still recognise 'Julie from the Star Milk Bar' today
But the Greek cafés were catering to the established tastes of their overwhelmingly British-Australian clientele in what was then, racially and culturally, a 'white Australia'.
As documented by the authors of a new book Greek Cafes and Milk Bars of Australia which documentary photograph Effy Alexakis and historian Leonard Janiszewski have spent 30 years researching, the cafes were uniquely Australian.
The authors conducted 1800 interviews and prised evocative images from family albums of cafe owners of the milk bars of last century as well as taking hundreds of stunning photographs and the few that survive today.
Janiszewski wries in the book, 'In an Australia we still remember, in each suburb and every country town, was the Greek cafe or milk bar – open all hours, 7 days a week. Remember the Niagara, the Parthenon, the Astoria and the Paragon?
'They gave us more than milkshakes, lollies, ice cream and home-style meals. With Modernist designs, American gadgetry and coloured lights, Greek cafes brought atmosphere, a touch of glamour, at times a hint of Hollywood – a little break from the mundane reality of local life.'
'They were the beginning of fast food in Australia and in that way they were the victim of their own success when [McDonalds and KFC] took over and highways began to bypass country towns,' Effy Alexakis told Daily Mail Australia.
Peter Zantiotis (left) and his father Lambros Zantiotis (far right) in the Busy Bee Cafe in Gunnedah in the 1940s which opened in 1933 and was later operated by Peter and his wife Loula. Greek interior designer, Stephen Varvaressos installed its glamorous art deco fittings which remained virtually unchanged for 70 years
A forerunner to the classic Greek milk bars of the 1950s was the Marathon Cafe, Wine and Fish Shop (pictured with Emanuel Marendy and a staff member in the late 1920s) in the Queensland town of Bundaberg by the Marendy brothers who promoted 'cleanliness, civility and quick service' on their shop sign
The Greek Australian milk bar was soon exported to England and South Africa and to New Zealand where the Golden Gate Milk Bar (pictured, in Wellington in 1938) was opened by Peter Bares in the city's central business district
While many people think of mid-20th Century Australia as a sponge for British, European and then American culture, the cafes and milk bars were such a hit here that they became a global export, with entrepreneurs opening establishments overseas in England, New Zealand and South Africa.
And Leonard Janiszewski says the slogan 'quality, service and cleanliness', usually attributed to McDonalds founder Ray Kroc, was originally coined by Greek-American caterers and adopted in the Greek Australian cafes.
'With their round windows, which were in the curvilinear art deco style, serving up milk shakes and American style ice-cream and often next door to the picture theatre they were a marriage between food and fantasy,' he said.
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