Five years on from the time the idea was initially proposed to the City of Sydney’s Council, the fate of a memorial plaque dedicated to perhaps one of the city’s most influential entrepreneurs is in limbo. November 4 marks the 90th anniversary of the opening of the first modern milk bar, not just in Australia, but according to historians Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis, the entire world.
Mick Adams, born Joachim Tavlaridis, opened Black and White 4d Milk Bar at 24 Martin Place, Sydney in 1932. Within 5 years his novel idea of a gulp-and-go milk shake stop had become a phenomenon, spreading across the country with almost 4000 milk bars established.
“Here you have an individual who picks up an experience from Greece, the galaktopouleion, then he sees the soda bars in America during the depression, and says ‘hey, let’s put these things together’.”
Leonard Jeniszewski, a socio-cultural historian at Sydney’s Macquarie University; says that’s just how the modern milk bar came to be.
“In 2017 during promotion of our Greek café and milk bar book we were interviewed by Simon Marnie on ABC Radio. During our interview, the idea to get a City of Sydney plaque recognising the first global milk bar was suggested and encouraged by Marnie and his audience,” he says.
The duo, alongside the descendants of Mr. Adams (Tavlaridis) then took their proposal to council whose historical office reviewed their evidence and approved a recommendation for a plaque to be produced for the historic site, as part of the city’s historical ‘green plaques’ program.
Mr Adam’s daughters Helen Gerondis and Lilian Keldoulis along with family had even come down to view the proposed site of the plaque at the milk bar’s original location.
However, progress was thwarted when it was found that the site’s current owners would not consent to the plaque being affixed to what is now ANZ tower.
“It appears that due diligence for the placement of a historical plaque on the building (ANZ tower) had not been undertaken by Council before the plaque was cast,” says Leniszewski.
“It was then suggested by Council that the plaque be placed on a very low wall near a drain, a distance away from the site, this was rejected by ourselves and Adams’ descendants as disrespectful, too low down to be read vertically, and not on the original site (the plaque clearly states ‘Site of the world’s first modern milk bar…” he says.
“The Greek Consul-General in Sydney and the Greek Community of NSW were poised to unveil the plaque in 2020, but of course, this never happened,” he adds.
Janet France is Mick Adams’ granddaughter, her mother the late Lilian Keldoulis was Mr Adams’ second daughter.
She told Neos Kosmos that the lengthy process has left the family disappointed.
“It started as something to be excited about… something to celebrate, now it’s hit a wall and it feels like the rugs been pulled out from under us.”
“I feel it’s important that the he be recognised for his contributions, especially from a historical perspective. It’s something that should be celebrated. I thought Sydney city was one of those councils which would be very supportive but that just hasn’t been the case,” she said.
Angela Vithoulkas is a former City of Sydney councillor who had previously been involved in the matter prior to her departure from politics.
“I was horrified to find out that something that I had thought was dealt with and that I had championed before COVID actually hadn’t come to fruition,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“It’s not only sad but it’s disappointing when we can’t give acknowledgement to people who really did devote their lives to customer service and building the city. It really is a sad state of affairs,” she concluded.
Nevertheless, Leonard Jeniszewski and Effy Alexakis along with Mr. Adams’ descendants are hopeful a positive outcome to the fiasco will eventuate.
“Five years is certainly too long a wait to publicly recognise an Australian cultural icon that went global!” Jeniszewski surmised.