milkbar

The Lathouras family's Cafe Royal was just down the road at number 41, and opened soon after brothers Mick, Mark, Jim and Jack emigrated from Turkey and arrived in Bundaberg about 1920. The brothers installed silky oak tables and chairs, refrigeration and a marble soda fountain for making ice-cream sodas, and they imported crockery from England that was embossed with their own Lathouras Brothers logo. As business improved, they opened a second cafe, called the Elite Cafe, with mirror-back bars, glass shelves holding glasses and ice-cream dishes, and paintings of their ice-creams and drinks on the mirrors. The menu in those days was mainly light refreshments, such as ham and eggs, toasted sandwiches, fresh fruit, and tea and coffee, as well as ice cream sodas, malted milks and milkshakes. Later the menu grew, with grills, roasts of the day, fish and chips, casseroles, soups and three-course meals. As the brothers started to get married and have families, the running of the cafes changed hands over the years, with Jack's sons George and Theo teaming up with Mick's brother-in-law, Con Catimergis, to take over the Elite in 1957. Mark was able to buy the freehold of the Cafe Royal and an old theatre building at the rear - facing Woongarra St - the Queen's Theatre. George Lathouras later left the Elite and moved to Brisbane, leaving Theo and Con Catimergis to run the business. When Con died, Theo took over and ran it on his own until its closure. Source: www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bundaberg/the-oldf...

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The Lathouras brothers—Jim, Jack, Mick, and Mark—opened the Café Royal and the Elite Café on the main street of Bundaberg in 1920. At that time, the Londy family’s Blue Bird Café and Harry Lewis’s Marble Café also traded in Bourbong Street. Greek shopkeeping was a widespread phenomenon. Greek cafés of the period were elegant shops with silky oak furniture, marble bars and mirrored back bars, monogrammed crockery, and gleaming soda fountains. Lathouras Bros sold icy-cold fruit drinks, sodas, and ice cream sundaes. In addition, they specialized in making confectionery for sale through both shops—rocky road, jellies, coconut rough, and a nougat and marshmallow creation called a Rocket—and Jim sold homemade ice cream from a horse-drawn cart. Beginning with light refreshments, the menu at the Royal and the Elite soon expanded to include roasts, mixed grills, fish dinners, steaks and the like. Everything was freshly made. If some Greek migrants spent a lifetime behind a counter in a country café, many of their descendants gravitated to Brisbane. Greek café stories now reside with people like Goldie Lathouras, whose father Mick came to Australia at the age of ten and ran the Elite Café until his death in 1957. Goldie vividly recalls the Easter eggs her father created. An enormous sugar egg had pride of place in the front window in the weeks leading up to Easter. It had a wristwatch on top—ladies’ one year, gents’ the next—and was raffled to raise money for the ambulance service. Mick also made personalized chocolate eggs and sugar eggs with the name of the lucky recipient on top. These eggs contained lollies, a toy, a watch, a necklace, or some other treat supplied by the customer. Source: greekcafesinbrisbane.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/lathouras-b... Under Goldie’s influence, the Lathouras family has been active throughout this project in documenting the Lathouras Bros story. On their behalf, Goldie lodged a significant collection of café artefacts with the John Oxley Library. Crockery emblazoned with café logos, silver teapots and coffeepots, docket books and photographs, sundae dishes and lolly packets help to tell the story of the Café Royal and the Elite Café. Along with an illustrated booklet, which was written by Goldie and designed by fourth-generation Lathourases, Theo and Melissa, these precious objects tell the story of the Lathouras family, who had cafés in the main street of Bundaberg from the early 1920s to the late 1970s.