The Niagara Cafe, Katoomba. A History. By Peter James Poulos - Tzortzopoulos
Picture: Cafe Niagara, Katoomba. Revamped, 2004
Peter James Poulos - Tzortzopoulos
My earliest recollections as a child of 3 or 4 years were of carpenters nailing the planks of a walkway from the kitchen to the back. Originally, the property consisted of a small shop at street level abutting at th back against a sheer stone wall and a 2nd storey running from the front to another sheer stone wall further back.This 2nd storey was a large residence of which I have no memory. The back yard was at a higher level again, the rear boundary fence abutting the famous Carrington Hotel, whose guests had a ‘beautiful’ view of the back of our premises.
Now, my father James (who came to Australia in 1911-12) and his brother, Peter (who arrived here a few years later from their village of Karava, Kythera, were in partnership in this small cafe in the early twenties when they decided to emulate the Simos’ Paragon Cafe which had become quite famous, am renovate the premises quite radically. They started the renovations just before the stock market crash of 1929 which was very unfortunate timing & for which they borrowed heavily. The changes consisted of excavating the rear at the back of the shop to lengthen it & to put the kitchen, bakehouse, toilets, office & a ballroom upstairs, taking up to three quarters of the residential space. Food from the kitchen was delivered downstairs by a dumb waiter. Orders were given and received by means of a speaking tube. The result was a beautiful high class restaurant downstairs in art deco style, incorporating a milk bar and soda fountain at the rear,& candy, chocolates,& homemadc cakes & biscuits at the front. The display windows & entrance were in keeping with the latest designs.
The downside of all these changes was that the residence shrank to two bedrooms , and bathroom/laundry to accommodate James’ growing family. Outside accommodation for James and family was out of the question as the partnership was heavily in debt. Peter lived in a rented room nearby, still a bachelor. By the end of 1931 my parents, James and Maria (nee Crithary, also of Karava) had four boys, all living in the small residence, but we had a reasonably large back yard and access to the large kitchen. They were eventually to have six sons, five of whom were born in the upstairs residence.
(When James married Maria in 1921, it was a double wedding, with James’ sister Kanella marrying John ‘Jack’ Moulos.)
We were quite fortunate during the depression years as we had plenty to eat, and because of the coal fired stove in the kitchen, were never cold in the winter. The restaurant was open every day from early morning to late at night, seven days a week and the bakehouse six days a week. Katoomba was, and still is, a tourist town and was very popular as a holiday and honeymoon resort in the 30’s. Echo Point, The Three Sisters, Katoomba Falls & numerous points of interest attracted people to the mountains. Few people had cars in those days & the train services were good, so Katoomba did well with tourism.. The Niagara became well known, second to The Paragon, & did good business catering for small parties in the upstairs ballroom.
As we grew up, my brothers and I helped out in the shop, running messages and cleaning. I remember having to scrub the marble entrance steps and take turns in keeping the hot water boiler going each morning before going to school, which fortunately was close by. We all had small jobs to do, in the kitchen, bakehouse and running messages. We had a pastrycook and a staff of waitresses in their frilly aprons and headdresses.We did well during those depression years but the hours were long and the work hard. Dad was the chef in charge of the kitchen upstairs with Mum helping him, while Uncle Peter managed the restaurant downstairs.
The menu was not really exotic in those days - roasts, grills, fish, oysters, ham and eggs for example, but had a great variety of sweets and cakes from the bakehouse, ice cream sodas and sundaes. Chicken was a delicacy in those days. I remember occasionally we would decapitate a chicken to order.
In 1937 a new state of the art picture theatre, The Savoy, was opened in addition to the existing Embassy Theatre. We later leased The Savoy Coffee Lounge next to the theatre, & the kiosks in both theatres. I was one of the “lolly boys” with tray, serving inside the theatre during interval, so going to the pictures was always interrupted by my duties.
In 1938 Peter sponsored the son of his sister, Potheti Georgas, to come to Australia. Gerald Georgas worked in the Niagara for many years and qualified as a pastrycook, before opening his own cakeshop in Katoomba.
Early one morning in 1940 we awoke to the smell of smoke to find that The Niagara was on fire. The chimney of the coal fired boiler which supplied our hot water had become red hot during the night and set fire to the floor between the storeys. The Fire Brigade put the fire out but caused a lot of water damage. Repairs to the floors and ceiling and replacement of carpets put us out of action for some time.
I must mention my eldest brother, George, who was three & a half years older than me. He left school in 1937 after the Intermediate Certificate to work full time in the shop & completed an Accountancy Course by correspondence. Tragically, he developed meningitis in July 1941 and died three weeks later on 1st August aged eighteen. This devastated our mother, and the whole family was in grief for quite a while, but the business carried on.
December 7th 1941 and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. Brother Angelo was called up into the army in 1942 but was discharged a year later medically unfit, and returned to work in The Niagara and Savoy Coffee Lounge. I left school in early 1942 to take up full time work in the shops, but joined the RAAF in October 1944, until discharged in 1946. The other brothers were too young for military service. Dad was too old and Peter medically unfit.
In June, 1942, Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney Harbour with the result that in the ensuing panic, hundreds of young people were evacuated to the mountains, & Katoomba’s population swelled. The local public school was expanded with demountable classrooms, and air raid drill carried out regularly. It was even suggested seriously that the Carrington chimney should be demolished to prevent the Japanese from using it for air navigation purposes
The Savoy Coffee Lounge was also a full milk bar & soda fountain & we were kept busy with school children after school.Every few days we would order our ice cream from Peter’s in Sydney & collect it in dry ice cooled containers from the railway station which is close to both shops. In warmer weather and school holidays we would buy fresh pineapples and oranges from the local fruit shops (all owned by Italians) & squeeze our own fresh fruit drinks. Milk was delivered in 10 gallon containers which were heavy to handle. Chocolates & candy were in very short supply during the war & tea and butter rationed, but we did well out of meat pies, cakes and biscuits from the bakehouse.
Virtually all the cafes in Katoomba were Greek & at one stage during the war we introduced a roster between us to give us an occasional day off. I don’t recall this lasting too long.
A feature of Katoomba was the yearly New Year’s Eve procession which started during the pre-war years. This was a famous drawcard for tourists & holiday makers. Most of the local businesses entered floats but I don’t recall a single one from a Greek cafe. Perhaps it was because we were so busy catering for the crowd’s needs. We were rushed before the activities started, closed while it was on & re-opened afterwards. Christmas and New Year were our busiest times in Katoomba just as everywhere else. Afterwards they had Carols by Candlelight at nearby Kingsford-Smith Park & the local theatres had midnight sessions, so New Years Eve was hectic and tiring for us, but profitable.
After the war, instead of picking up, Katoomba went into steady decline as a tourist town, mainly because people discovered the car & beaches. The Carrington Hotel declined & eventually closed. It was sold & resold & later restored. Places such as the Scenic Railway revolving restaurant, new coffee shops & take-aways made serious inroads into the Greek cafe business.However, The Niagara and Savoy Coffee Lounge survived well and we sold both to Messrs Samson and Ellis in 1950. James and family moved to Rose Bay. Peter, now married (1939), retired and took a trip overseas to Greece. Samson and Ellis did not succeed and Peter took back The Niagara with another partner, Mr. Jack Venn, & managed to bring the business back to profitability for a few years. James was not involved in the business this time but shared ownership of the freehold with Peter.
Other Greek cafes such as the Paragon, Aroney’s, the Florida & AB Cafe, survived, but The Niagara was in a disadvantageous site in Main St. when the town’s business centre moved further down Katoomba St. Manuel Cordato’s AB Cafe is still in business. Sometime in the late fifties, Peter & James sold The Niagara freehold to a chemist who turned it into a pharmacy, &, of all things, a bicycle shop.That was the end of the Greek connection with The Niagara.The beautiful cubicles & fittings disappeared. However, The Paragon has survived and its ballroom and art deco fittings are now Heritage listed.
The Niagara Pharmacy eventually closed and an attempt to resurrect it as a new Niagara Restaurant failed after much expense in refurbishments.
John Poulos, a first cousin of James and Peter, figured prominently in Katoomba’s Greek Cafe history. He ran the Paris Cafe, opposite the Carrington Hotel, during the 30’s and early 40’s. When it closed he took on several jobs as chef at various guest houses and particularly at Homesdale at the bottom of Katoomba Street which also ran a weekly cabaret. His final stab at business was John’s Pie Shop near the Paragon Cafe.
I must mention George Poulos, brother of John and cousin of James and Peter Poulos, who was involved in Greek Cafe connections for many years although I don’t recall him ever running a business on his own. He also was a great chef and worked at the Niagara at times. He and wife Eleni (who came out in the same boat as James’ & Peter’s sister Potheti) have two sons, Theo and Harry. Harry is Professor of Civil Engineering at Sydney University.
Of the second generation of Greek cafe pioneers in Katoomba, some went on to do Law (Theo Simos),
Medicine (George James Poulos), Pharmacy (PeterPoulos).
All 8 grandchildren of James & Maria Poulos of The Niagara went on to tertiary education in Psychology, Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Commerce.
From, The Kytherian, Newsletter of the Kytherian Association of Australia, Sydney, March 2002, page 8-10.
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