The
Olympia building has had many reincarnations. Today the
Olympia Café and
Deli
is an enormously popular restaurant and the working bakery
is always a
hub
of activity. Most people don't know that what is now the
bakery used to
be
a bioscope and later was a club and disco. The offices
on the top floor
of
the building were once a brothel.
Here's
an extract from Michael Walker's book on Kalk Bay, "In
1931 with the
introduction
of sound an operator's box was added by Messrs African
Theatres
Ltd.
The then owner Mr S. Zachron did extensive improvements
especially with
the
introduction of an upstairs gallery. Thereafter Goles,
the new owner,
renamed
it the Olympia Bioscope and it was a popular venue until
the
interior
was burnt out in 1968. Locals invariably attended the
bioscope and
each
Saturday night it was filled with the characters of Kalk
Bay. The
whites
sat downstairs, the coloureds upstairs. Sometimes the
coloureds would
throw
peanuts down onto the whites much to the annoyance of
not only those
who
were hit, but also of the manger who than the unenviable
job of sorting
out
the problem. It was, however, harmless fun and at interval
both whites
and
coloureds would make a bee-line for the two bars at the
New Kings which
lay
opposite the bioscope to 'stoke up' before the main film.
Smoking was
allowed
in cinemas in those days and it was not unusual for some
white
patrons
to move upstairs to avoid the odours of Mr Pick's (the
family
butcher)
cigars. He had a permanent seat for many years on the
corner of the
middle
isle each Saturday night, and there he proceeded to chain
smoke
cigars
through the entire film, much to the discomfort of those
who sat
behind
him." From Kalk Bay 'a place of character', by Michael
Walker.
The
Olympia Café was also the local Greek café, which explains
the name. For
many
years the café on the corner in Kalk Bay was owned and
run by Alexandre
Bassios
a Greek immigrant who arrived in South Africa from Albania
in 1934.
Over
time he bought the Olympia building and the small plot
of land just
behind
it. Alex Bassios of Kalk Bay vineyards carries his grandfather's
name
and
grew up packing bait and working in his father's
shop.
