Selling an American Dream: Australia’s Greek Café

Guest talk about milkshakes & ice cream sodas

Effy Alexakis and Leonard Janiszewski, co-curators of the nationally touring exhibition, ‘Selling an American Dream: Australia’s Greek Café’. 
Photo by Effy Alexakis, from the ‘In Their Own Image: 

Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University.

Would you believe that milkshakes were originally a health food? Their ingredients included fruit, cream, butter, eggs, chocolate, honey, caramel, malt, yeast – and rum – but no ice cream or artificial flavours were added.

Milkshakes were popularised through milk bars. And you might be surprised to learn that milk bars originated in Sydney in 1932 as the brainchild of a Greek known as Mick Adams (Joachim Tavlaridis) – not in the United States as many people believe.

When Adams’ milk bar, the Black and White 4d.Milk Bar, opened it attracted over 27,000 customers in the first week alone! Traffic had to be halted in the then non-pedestrian Martin Place.

Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis will reveal how Adams’ refreshment revolution quickly became an Australian – and international – food-catering icon in their guest talk:

Shakin’ the World over: The Greek – Australian Milk Bar

Sunday 24 August 2014, 2.30pm

Ages: All welcome

Cost: Free

Bookings essential: www.trybooking.com/FCHA

Hurstville Museum & Gallery

14 MacMahon Street, Hurstville

Selling an American Dream: Australia’s Greek Café

“Every time you drink a Coke, enjoy an ice cream or sweet chocolate treat, go to the cinema, or listen to the latest popular music hit, you can thank Australia’s Greek cafés.”

-Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis

Hurstville Museum & Gallery is hosting a touring exhibition from the “In their own Image: Greek-Australians” National Project, Macquarie University, Sydney.

This photographic exhibition, curated by Effy Alexakis and Leonard Janiszweski, explores an important chapter in the development of Australian culture. Greek cafés were known for their introduction of American sodas, ice-cream sundaes, milkshakes, hamburgers, milk chocolate and hard sugar candies, into communities right across Australia.

Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis tell us more about the first modern Greek Café in Sydney:

“In 1932, Mick Adams (Joachim Tavlarides), opened Australia’s first modern ‘American-style’ milk bar, the ‘Black and White 4 pence Milk Bar’ in Sydney. The ‘milk bar’ was created by Adams based upon his observations of American drugstore soda bars – he had visited the United States two years earlier. In Australia, the Greek-run oyster saloon and soda bar/sundae ‘parlor’ had placed prime importance on sit-down trade for meals, drinks and desserts. American drugstore soda bars emphasised quick stand-up and bar-stool bar trade (soda drinks, milkshakes and sundaes) over sit-down meal trade. Adams firmly took up the American soda bar catering emphasis and highlighted the milkshake.

Seating capacity in Adams’ premises was restricted to just six small two-seater cubicles along one wall, the main feature being a long hotel-style bar with soda fountain pumps and numerous Hamilton Beach electric milkshake makers (imported from the United States). No cooked meals were offered. On the first day of opening 5,000 customers frequented the milk bar, and as many as 27,000 per week then began to patronise the establishment. Other food caterers were quick to adopt the idea and within five years of the opening of Adams’ original Black and White Milk Bar there were allegedly 4,000 milk bars in Australia; most were Greek-run. Food caterers in Great Britain and New Zealand were also quick to embrace the concept.”

Black and White 4d.Milk Bar exterior, Martin Place, Sydney, NSW, 1934.

Mick Adams is pictured here with children from the Dalwood Health Home.

Photos courtesy L. Keldoulis, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University.

Selling an American Dream: Australia's Greek Café will be on show at Hurstville Museum & Gallery from 2 August – 28 September 2014

Don’t miss the exciting public programs and book in here

New opening hours for our libraries!

 

Penshurst Branch Library is now open on Sundays between 2.00pm to 5.00pm. Additionally, from 3 August 2014, Hurstville Library will open on Sundays all day between 9.30am and 4.00pm, instead of just between 2.00pm to 5.00pm.

Visit our library services 7 days a week!

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

Stories from 14 MacMahon Street – MacMahon’s Manor

14 MacMahon Street transformed into MacMahon’s Manor – a fine dining and theatre restaurant – in 1983 after being sold by the St George Rugby Union Club to John & Annette Ibbitson. After renovating, restoring and redecorating the venue for six months, MacMahon’s Manor became a very popular venue playing host to theatre productions, numerous weddings and various special events.

Courtesy of John Ibbitson

The first room on the right as you enter the property was a fine dining area with an open log fireplace, a small grand piano and lace tablecloths set with “real true silverware and crystal glassware.” The second room along was the cocktail bar – the bar itself was rescued from an old ferry that was in the process of being dismantled!

In what is today the main gallery space of Hurstville Museum & Gallery, was the theatre restaurant, with a small stage that held big costumes! A new show was put on every three months, with at least a dozen changes of costumes for an audience of approximately 150 people 6 nights a week. The shows became so popular they were booked out 3 months in advance, and every show had a corresponding themed menu and signature cocktail.

Courtesy of John Ibbitson

Bruce Scott, costume designer and choreographer for the stage shows at MacMahon’s Manor, describes  the recipe for a successful night of entertainment at ‘The Manor’ as “variety and comedy that’s it, there's no ifs or buts that’s all you do in theatre restaurant.  You’ve got to entertain the masses when they're eating and drinking and so if you’ve got colour and movement on stage and you've got comedy that’s success, that’s it.”

See some of the original costumes worn on stage at MacMahon’s Manor on display today in the IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK exhibition.

Courtesy of John Ibbitson

These are just some of the stories of 14 MacMahon Street. Come and visit the multisensory exhibition IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK to find out more about the building’s past.

Exhibition proudly sponsored by

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

Stories from 14 MacMahon Street – Dr Crakanthorp’s home & practice

14 MacMahon Street, now known as Hurstville Museum & Gallery, was built in 1929 by Dr John Crakanthorp, as his family home and doctor’s practice. Together with his wife Valerie, two daughters Rosemary and Philippa and his dog Thrifty, he lived and worked in the house for over 30 years.

Courtesy of Philippa Williams.

At the front of the house on the right, as you enter the property was the Crakanthorp’s lounge room, with a cosy fireplace and double-doors which led out onto a side garden. The gardens were well known in the area and people would travel just to see the magnificent azaleas in bloom. Dr Crakanthorp's healing hands also had a green thumb, growing orchids in orchid houses he built on the property and selling them overseas.

Courtesy of the Crakanthorp family. 

The dining room led off the lounge room, featuring a sunroom and Valerie’s writing desk, where Philippa remembers her mother sitting on many occasions. Upstairs were the bedrooms and main bathrooms and a balcony which overlooked the side garden.

However these areas were never seen by the patients of Dr Crakanthorp. The surgery had its own separate side entrance which led into a small waiting room. In those days, doctors did everything – they delivered babies, fixed broken arms and removed infected tonsils. Several people recall having a tonsillectomy done by Dr Crakanthorp, however they didn’t always go according to plan. Pam Taylor remembers the doctor visiting her at home as she began haemorrhaging after the operation.

Some antique tonsillectomy equipment is on currently on display at the Museum & Gallery as part of the exhibition. It is truly scary stuff!

But one of the most harrowing things to happen to 14 MacMahon Street was a lightning strike. On 12 February 1949 the roof gable at the back of the house, above Philippa’s bedroom, was sheared off by a bolt of lightning. A newspaper article reporting the “violent thunderstorms” stated that “tiles were hurled from the roof” and Philippa remembers tiles littering the lawn of their neighbours yard and debris from the strike which had fallen onto her bed.

Courtesy of the Crakanthorp family. 

These are just some of the stories of 14 MacMahon Street. Come and visit the multisensory exhibition IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK to find out more about the building’s past.

Exhibition proudly sponsored by

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

Stories from 14 MacMahon Street – How it all began

The land where our Museum & Gallery is located today was part of a large block of land, owned by the MacMahon family. Irish migrant Patrick MacMahon and his wife Dora McDonough purchased it in the 1880s, with the boundaries being today MacMahon, Dora and Patrick Streets and Stoney Creek Road. The estate was gradually subdivided between the late 19th century and 1939.

In the late 1920s, young doctor John Saxon Crakanthorp, residing at 1 Butler Street in Hurstville, was looking for a place to build his new family home and doctor’s practice. He bought parts of the MacMahon’s estate. The doctor chose the location well to establish a doctor’s practice – just across the road of Hurstville and District United Friendly Society Pharmacy. The dispensary has been located at 17 MacMahon Street since 1915.

The image below was taken in 1923, depicting the candidates for the Hospital and Ambulance Queen Competition parading through MacMahon Street. The background reveals the pharmacy building.

Courtesy of Hurstville City Library Museum & Gallery collection

These are just some of the stories of 14 MacMahon Street. Come and visit the multisensory exhibition IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK to find out more about the building’s past.

Exhibition is proudly sponsored by

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor: 100 Women 100 Brooches 100 Stories Exhibition

Stella (‘Miles’) Franklin - Novelist and Prize Founder

Miles Franklin was an iconic Australian author and an obvious choice to be included in an exhibition revolving around remarkable women. Growing up in rural Australia at the turn of the 20th century, Miles witnessed daily the hard work, pain and sacrifice her mother experienced maintaining a household and raising children. Miles resolved to never marry to save herself this physical and emotional hardship, and though she had several partners, she stuck to this decision.

Miles was taught to read and write by her mother and at the age of 16 began work on her most famous novel My Brilliant Career. The book was published when Miles was 19, and shortly thereafter removed from print by Miles herself after family and friends complained about the intimate nature of the contents.

In 1906 Miles travelled to America where she remained for 30 years doing various work, most notably with the National Women’s Trade Union League of America and as a volunteer nurse in WWI.

In the 1930s Miles relocated to Australia and took over the family home in Carlton, in the St George area. From this home she wrote one of her most successful novels, All that Swagger (1936).

Miles Franklin is commemorated in this exhibition with a brooch created by Roseanne Bartley from found plastic. She has aimed to represent the ideal behind the Miles Franklin Award and indeed My Brilliant Career, in showing that items that seem of little cultural significance, such as a discarded plastic spoon or the life choice of one young woman in rural Australia, can be shaped to reflect the cultural experience of a generation and of course, to create something beautiful.[1]

Roseanne Bartley, M is for, 2011.
Found plastic, 925 silver and stainless steel, 68x74x76 mm.
Photograph Rod Buchholz.

Don’t miss your chance to see this brooch and many more!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor: 100 Woman 100 Brooches 100 Stories is on show from 26 October - 15 December 2013 at Hurstville Museum & Gallery.

Visit our website for more information

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor is an artisan travelling exhibition, toured by Museum & Gallery Services Queensland.

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[1] Information taken from Franzidis, Evie, Tales of 100 Inspirational Australian Women, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, artisan, Fortitude Valley, Queensland, 2011, p.52.

Illuminating stained glass exhbition at Hurstville Museum & Gallery

Seascapes and Landscapes from Greece

 

Aegan Sea Seascape, stained glass composition

Yanos Bouzioukos

Dragon’s Lair Gallery

Hurstville Museum & Gallery

6 April – 28 April 2013

Yanos Bouzioukos was born in Athens in 1951. This exhibition reflects the seascapes and landscapes of his homeland through compositions of stained glass and glass-collage. Yanos has a strong background in working with glass, lecturing on Contemporary Glass Techniques in Wales and also teaching at the University of Sydney in the Glass Department. Today he lives and works in Sydney and hopes to demonstrate through this exhibition the multicultural nature of the community.


Official Opening:

Saturday 6 April 2013, 1.30pm for 2.00pm.

RSVP by Wednesday 3 April 2013.

9330 6444 or museumgallery@hurstville.nsw.gov.au


Location:
Dragon’s Lair Gallery
Hurstville Museum & Gallery
14 MacMahon Street, Hurstville



Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 10.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday, 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Other times by appointment.

'So You Love to Write?' Script Writing Sessions

[Enter Stage Left] Two school children get off the bus at the bus interchange at Hurstville. Walking together, the two students manoeuvre through the winding streets of Hurstville.

Jennifer: Hey Mark...

Mark: Yeah, Jenny?

Jennifer: Did you hear about that awesome new program that Hurstville Library, Museum and Gallery is running?

Mark: No, I don't think I did. What's it about?

Jennifer: It's a six week script writing program called 'So You Love to Write?' They even have the award-winning playwright PP (Pat) Cranney as the facilitator!

Mark: No way! When is it?

Jennifer: It's on a Monday night between 4:30 and 6:30pm from the 31st of October to the 5th of December, 2011. Do you want to hear the best part? (Mark nods eagerly.) Some of the 'mini-scripts' will be selected to be produced in the filmmaking workshops that have been planned for the New Year!

Mark: Whoa! So -

Jennifer: And... It's only $5 per session.

Mark: So how do we sign up?

Jennifer: Let's go ask the Librarian about booking.

The two students enter through the front doors into Hurstville City Library, in order to sign up for the script writing sessions. [Exeunt Stage Right].

A Spoonful of Sugar: Cakes and Cooking exhibition on now

Visit Hurstville City Museum & Gallery for a delicious discovery into the world of cake decorating , sugar art and cooking.

View a unique collection of decorative handcrafted cakes from across Australia that have been elegantly handcrafted using a variety of techniques, accompanied by photographs of cooking demonstrations and food shops from Hurstville. This display will feature recipes from the St George County Council's All Electric Cookery Book, photographs of the former Classic Cake Shop in Forest Road and both traditional and contemporary examples of cakes and cake decorating equipment.

Display dates: 3 September - 2 October 2011
Hurstville City Museum & Gallery
14 MacMahon St, Hurstville
ph: 9330 6444

EAT HISTORY at Hurstville City Library, Museum & Gallery

This years History Week is on NOW and the theme is EAT HISTORY! To celebrate Hurstville City Library, Museum & Gallery is hosting three wonderful events:

Sugary Delights: Sugar Art and Cake Traditions on display at Hurstville City Library, Local Studies Room

On display now is a unique collection of cakes and sugar art including sugar art instruction books and booklets, tools and associated utensils. Take the time to look at the intricate details of each cake and observe techniques not commonly practiced today. On display until 11 September 2011.

Eat History: High Tea at Hurstville City Museum & Gallery
To celebrate the theme of Eat History, Hurstville City Museum & Gallery is hosting a high tea! Whilst enjoying some scrumptious high tea goodies, Marian Jones, President of the Cake Decorators Association of NSW, will be hosting a cake decorating and sugar art demonstration.

Wednesday 7 September 2011
Session 1: 10am - 11.30am
Session 2: 2pm - 3.30pm
$10 per person
Hurry spots are limited! Call the Museum & Gallery on 9330 6444 today!

Something Sweet Kids Program at Hurstville City Museum & Gallery
This fun 90 minute workshop is designed to teach the basics of cupcake decorating. Our aim is to encourage kids to explore thier imagination, whilst learning techniques from a bygone era. Materials and tools provided.

Thursday 8 September 2011
4pm - 5.30pm
$5 per child
7 -12 years
Please call to today to secure your spot on 9330 6444! Limited spaces!

Let Me Entertain You Curator Floor Talks

Join Hurstville City Museum & Gallery's curators and translator to explore this wonderful exhibition. Talks are also translated into Mandarin.

Sunday 21 August 2011:

2pm - 3pm (English)

3pm - 4pm (Mandarin)

Thursday 22 September 2011:

6pm - 7pm (English)

7pm - 8pm (Mandarin)

Free event. Refreshments avaliable. Bookings essential.

Hurstville City Museum & Gallery

14 MacMahon St, Hurstville

phone: 9330 6444

email: museumgallery@hurstville.nsw.gov.au

Family History Week - Past, Present & Future

Celebrate Family History Week (29-July - 7 August) with Hurstville City library, Museum & Gallery buy attending our FREE family History week seminar.

This seminar focuses on the value of photographs in your family history and will allow for participants to learn about the importance of correctly storing and labeling photographs. Discover how to store images from your past for future generations.

Guest Speaker: Alan Murrin from Joy Murrin Family History Services

Wednesday 3 August 2011

10am - 12pm, morning tea provided

Library Exhibition Area, Hurstville City Library

For bookings please call 9330 6444 or email museumgallery@hurstville.nsw.gov.au

Mother's Day Ideas!

Mother's day is just around the corner, and mothers all over Australia already have high expectations as to what they want to do on Sunday 8th May, 2011. They want to have breakfast in bed; to get lots of presents; and to be able to curl up and watch a good movie and/or read a good book.

Now if you get the feeling that you are going to be demanded to play courier, between Hurstville LMG and your mother, for these books and movies, but are not sure of what you will get her... then never fear because Hurstville LMG is here!

Once again I sweet talked the LMG staff into giving me a few ideas as to what they think mothers would like to see/watch for Mother's Day, and I have narrowed the list down to the top ten ideas for you!

First of all is Bridget Jones' Diary. We have the novel, audio book and movie all available at Hurstville Library.
Second is Pride and Prejudice. This classic novel is loved by women everywhere, and we currently hold the novel, audio book, movie and BBC series version at Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.
Third are books by Lisa Kleypas who is a wonderful romance author. Some of her books are available at Penshurst and the rest at Hurstville Library.
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, was the fourth recommendation given. The novel and DVD are available at Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.
The fifth suggestion was the author James Patterson, an incredible Crime/Thriller author. His books are available in various languages as well as on Overdrive, at Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.
The sixth suggestion was another author, John Grisham. His novels are available in many languages, as well as on Overdrive and in audio books format, at Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.

The seventh suggestion was the musical Grease, available on DVD at Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was the eighth recommendation given by the Hurstville LMG staff. This book is available at both Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries.

Janet Evanovich, a humorous author, came as the ninth recommendation. Her books are available as audio books and in large print, at Hurstville and Penshurst Libraries.
The final suggestion, for when all else fails, is one of our many Penshurst paperback novels. Available at both Penshurst and Hurstville Libraries, there are many romance novels to suit all mothers' tastes.

So hurry in and check out some of these great ideas!

Long Weekend Entertainment

The long weekend is fast approaching, and if you find that you have no idea what you are going to do with it; well then, this is the blog for you!
It is now a well known fact that the Hurstville LMG will be (unfortunately) closed for this Easter's long weekend, and the staff will be given a chance to catch up with their reading/movies/music that they have been putting aside for this weekend.

You might be wondering just what it is that the Hurstville LMG staff read/listen to/watch in their free time, so I am about to tell you.
I went around and asked the staff what they would be reading/watching/listening to this long weekend, and I came away with a list about five pages long... and that was only HALF of the staff here! So I've shortened the list to some of the top suggestions (although if you want to hear more, just let me know!)

For those parents out thee looking for some good picture books for their children to read this long weekend, some great suggestions would be: It's a Book and The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith; The Legend of the Golden Snail by Graeme Base and the Old Tom book series by Leigh Hobbs.

For the juniors starving for a new adventure, I've been told to recommend: Worldshaker by Richard Harland (also really good for teens!) and the Worst Band in the Universe by Graeme Base.

Teenagers who find themselves with free moments between hanging out with friends this weekend should take a good look at: Maus: a survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman (a moving graphic novel about the holocaust); The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group and The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks and Where the Mild Things Are: a very meek parody by Maurice Send-Up.

For those out there looking for a new author to sink their teeth into, take a good look at: James Patterson; Joyce Carol Oates; Lisa Kleypas; Michael Connelly and J.D Robb - for some wonderful books.

If all you want is a good novel to get you through the weekend, the staff at Hurstville LMG have recommended: Daughters-in-law by Joanna Trollope; Kill Your Friends by John Niven; The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The non-fiction lovers out there simply must read: The Ghost at the Wedding: a true story by Shirley Walker (to get you in the ANZAC spirit!); It's Not About the Bike: my journey back to life by Lance Armstrong; The Wolf at the Table: a memoir by Augusten Burroughs and one of the many Lonely Planet Guidebooks (taking you on a trip around the world, without ever leaving your chair!)

By way of magazines, among the most popular with the LMG staff are: Donna Hay; Australian Personal Computer (APC) and Practical Parenting.

And if all you REALLY want for this long weekend is a good movie to sit back and enjoy, take a good look at: The Sixth Sense; The Wedding Singer; The Karate Kid; Toy Story 3; The Social Network; A Fish Called Wanda; Long Way Round; the Story of India; The Darling Buds of May; Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) and Dirty Dancing.

If, when you were reading this blog, you came across something that you really wanted to read/watch/listen to, and then began to worry because the LMG staff have said that they would have it out this weekend - don't fret! After many painstaking hours of bribery and blackmail (not seriously!); I managed to convince my fellow staff memebers to hold off borrowing their weekend entertainment until 8:59pm on Thursday (one minute before closing time) to give you a chance to get down here and grab a copy. But you'd better hurry!

The Summoning!

Have you ever wondered why that 'loner' kid at school is always so weird? Well, be careful, because they could be a supernatural! All Chloe Saunders ever wanted was a normal life - but that all changed when she saw her first ghost!

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first book in the Darkest Powers trilogy, and it tells the story of Chloe and her friends' struggle to remain 'normal' in a world of supernaturals.

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Definitely one of the coolest film clips I've seen in a while. And what a voice! And now Adele has record-breaker to add to her resume. Her album '21' has topped the UK charts for the tenth week in a row, smashing a record previously held by Madonna, now the longest time ever for a UK album by a female solo artist. You go, girl-frand!

Classic Christie's mysteries now in large print

Agatha Christie's famous Hercule Poirot mysteries have been reissued in large print. Come in and check them out!

Stieg Larsson series now in large print

The best selling series by Stieg Larsson is now available in large print. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest have been on the best seller list for months. Now readers who need or just enjoy reading large print will not feel left out!

Cram for the HSC!

Our popular subject seminars are back!
Each seminar is led by a HSC expert who'll provide you with tips, hints and notes.

Get the edge in exams and nail those tricky topics. BOOK NOW!

When:

• 27 April 2011 - Economics
• 28 April 2011 - Legal Studies
• 4 May 2011 - Chemistry
• 5 May 2011 - Biology
• 10 May 2011 – English/Belonging
• 11 May 2011 – Business

Where: Hurstville City Library, Exhibition Area
Cost: $5
Time: 6-8pm
To book and for more details: go to the Information Desk, Hurstville City Library