It wasn’t all that long ago that Sydney’s defunct monorail was up for grabs, and now we’re seeing the vision of one of its Greek Australian buyers taking shape.
Harry Tsoukalas is the proud owner of three monorail carriages, and has been inspired to use them as part of a grand design for a new museum and cafe/taverna on the premises of the Pan-Arcadian Club in King Street, Canterbury.
“All my life I’ve had recycling yards and I’ve tried to save our heritage for future generations,” Mr Tsoukalas told Neos Kosmos.
Born in Corfu, he relocated to his homeland for ten years until returning to Australia in 2010 because of the crisis.
Now he sees an opportunity to create a meeting place for all things Greek, though admits his experience in hospitality is lacking and so is on the lookout for someone to lend him a hand – preferably of Greek descent.
“There’ve been a few people interested but I want to find Greek partners, so we can have Greek taverna nights, comedy, karaoke, and make it a centre for meetings for the arts – anything to do with Greece,” he said.
But it’s not only the monorail and Greek culture that he wishes to preserve; over the years Mr Tsoukalas has collected an assortment of items from the past.
“There are some amazing things I have kept for a museum – original posters and tokens. They all cost a lot of money, but we can’t just let them go.”
Working in partnership with the Pan-Arcadian Club, Tsoukalas has created a budget for renovations to the club building that occupies a site of over 500 square metres.
“We need $50,000 to do the partitions and renovate, and the deal is that to raise the $50,000, investors can take a 40 per cent share of the business.”
Potential backers can contact Harry on 0421 107178.