Simos family - papers concerning 'The Paragon' restaurant at Katoomba, NSW, 1930, 1941, 1962-1998

MLMSS 7212/Box 1X

fonds

1930, 1941, 1962-1998

Textual Records, Ephemera, Clippings, Objects

421852

0.16 metres of textual material (1 outsize box)
Ephemera
Clippings
Textual Records - (typescript)
Textual Records - (printed)
Objects

'The Paragon' restaurant in Katoomba, NSW, has survived unaltered since the heyday of Blue Mountains tourism. Renowned for its hand-made chocolates and confectionary, and its art deco interiors, it was established in 1916 as a soda bar/cafe by Zacharias (Zack) Simos, a Greek immigrant from Kythera. The cafe was fitted out in the 1920s by shopfitters H. & E. Sidgreaves and extended in the 1930s with the addition of a dining room and a ball room, which would later become a cocktail lounge, designed by architect Henry White. Simos ran the restaurant with his wife Mary, also from Kythera, who carried on the business after his death in 1975. 'The Paragon', added to the Register of the National Estate in 1978, was sold by the family in 2000. Mary Simos died the following year.

Papers include: letter to Zacharias Simos from architect A.J. Osborne, 1930; invitation to a dinner dance and card evening at 'The Paragon' to raise funds for charity, 1941; Sunday Trading License, 1962; magazine and newspaper articles about 'The Paragon', 1971-1998; menus; bakelite display plaque for cream sponges