Copyright (2005) George C Poulos

Is this the site of the Occidental Cafe, Cobar, in the first half of the 20th century?

If so, does anyone have photographs of the Occidental Cafe and the Regent Theatre in Cobar?

Peter Tsicalis has provided us with a Greek Business Register for the years 1935-38.

Businesses operating in Cobar at the time included:

"Cobar

Nik and Ioannis Minas Tzortzopoulos from Karavas on Kythera had the Cobar cafe trading as Poulos Bros.

Basil Emm Travasaros from Travasargianika had the Blue Bird Cafe.

Kyprianos D. Dimitriou from Aglatza Kyprou had the Occidental Cafe plus Chrysanthou and Paraskeua. Trading as James Bros".


The following is some background history on these two businesses from Kevin Cork's thesis on Greek owned cinema's in NSW:

"Born in Sydney, the only daughter of George Angelides (of Puritan Chocolates' fame), Anastasia, met Chris James at a picnic. Chris had come to Sydney to be best man at a wedding. In October 1937, the two were married and Chris took his new bride back to Cobar where he and his brother ran the Occidental Cafe. Anastasia worked in the cafe and recalled that, during those late 1930s and early 1940s, they had a staff of 18 and seating for over 100 diners. Chris' brother left the partnership around 1939 and this placed extra pressure on Chris and Anastasia. The first of their two children arrived in 1940, the second in 1946. That same year, tired of the hard work and with no relatives to assist, Chris moved into the cinema business and sold the cafe. Anastasia worked as cashier at the Regent and helped out in other capacities. At one time, she and Chris, with the aid of a hand-mixer, concreted the floor of the open air cinema situated behind the Regent. Busy only at nights at the Regent, she opened a children's wear shop, saying that there was nowhere else in the town to buy such things. The venture succeeded and she expanded the business to include frocks. Daughter Maria helped with ushering at the Regent, then in the ticket box. In 1962, Anastasia moved to Sydney with her children. From about 1963 to 1966, Maria returned to Cobar where she managed the Regent so that her father could supervise his Palais Theatre at Nyngan".