Greek immigrant and owner of the Olympia Milk Bar from 1959 until its closure in 2017, Nicholas Fotiou, passed away last week, leaving behind a huge legacy that is tied with the shop he worked in for nearly six decades.
Mr Fotiou and the Olympia Milk Bar at 190 Parramatta Rd in Stanmore became staples of the area, with its history chronicled by Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis in their book, ‘Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia’.
Dr Janiszewski said that Mr Fotiou was a “quiet individual who kept government authority intervention and personal intimate relationships beyond family at a safe distance”, having personal secrets that he would allude to, but not elaborate on.
“He enjoyed engaging in Greek, discussing the milk bar and its operation, but very rarely the details of his life. Some saw him as a recluse, others as a curiosity – an oddity, out of time and out of place, given that milk bars had rapidly disappeared in Sydney,” he told Neos Kosmos.
Dr Janiszewski shared some insights into Mr Fotiou’s background, noting that the Lemnos-native (born in 1936), who would have been there during the German occupation, came to Australia aboard the migrant ship Cyrenia in 1955.
His arrival was sponsored by the operators of a Greek-run café in Wagga Wagga called the Silver Key Café.
“He appears to have worked there, and possibly in other Greek-run cafés in regional NSW, until he joined his older brother John in 1959 at the Olympia Milk Bar,” Dr Janiszewski said.
“John died in 1981 at the aged of 49, but Nicholas persisted with operating the milk bar until its forced closure in 2017; the local council had deemed it a safety and health threat to the general public.”
The history academic at Macquarie University mentioned that, according to a relative, the brothers made an agreement that the milk bar would continue if the other passed away, which Mr Fotiou honoured for 36 years without fault.
“Operating cafes and the milk bar was essentially the only life that Nicholas ever knew in Australia,” Dr Janiszewski said.
“The routine of dealing daily with customers and managing the business was the pattern of his life and become an inseparable part of his self-worth and identity.”
Mr Fotiou kept the Olympia (which had already been operating since 1939) running long past its expiration date due to his unwavering dedication.
“The Olympia Milk Bar continued to serve customers long after its ‘use by’ date because of Nicholas’ commitment to it, and what it represented to him – safety, security, identity and self-worth.”
Dr Janiszewski remarked that the business did very well in the 1950s and early 1960s, having a strong symbiotic working relationship with the Olympia De-Luxe Picture Theatre next door.
This continued when the theatre was converted into a roller-skating rink, getting good youth patronage, until a dispute erupted between the Fotiou’s and the rink’s manager and difficult times ensued.
“Reasonable customer visitation persisted in the 1970s and 80s despite competition from a growing number of other diverse ‘fast food enterprises’ that had emerged in the area,” Dr Janiszewski said.
“With Nicholas deciding not to refurbish the milk bar, much of its original furnishings such as the 1930s service counter and later 1960s additions such as the Laminex tables and advertising, attracted the curious, the nostalgic, would-be writers, musicians and artists, in addition to regular locals.”
These sorts of visits, Dr Janiszewski explained, led to the milk bar gaining status as a local cultural icon, inspiring two songs, getting mentioned in two novels and even having a few mini film documentaries produced about it.
Dr Janiszewski elaborated that the Olympia was the last of Sydney’s traditional ‘American-style, modern milk bars’ as conceived by Mick Adams (Joachim Tavlaridis) in November 1932 in his Black & White Milk Bar in Martin Place, Sydney.
The shop had a long service counter with ‘Island service’ areas for milkshakes, soda drinks, and confectionery, so that customers knew where to stand for the item they desired, putting an emphasis on milkshakes and sodas over confectionery.
Originally, no food items or tables were provided, even though it had a small number of booth seats.
The shop had a confectionery counter, which was quite small, at the front-side of service counter that faced the entrance as well as a concertina door that permitted the activity inside to spill out onto the pavement – a feature typical of very early milk bars.
“Stylistically, it echoed what 1930s milk bars originally looked like and what their service emphasis was – there are no such original milk bars (not to be confused with Greek cafes) left like it in Australia,” Dr Janiszewski said.
The building is on the NSW Heritage Register and was sold earlier this year, with Mr Fotiou having stayed at the property, which was also his home, until 2021 when he was moved to a nursing home.
He was laid to rest at Rookwood Cemetery last Friday October 6, with his legacy forged and forever linked to his devotion and commitment to the Olympia Milk Bar.
