A photograph believed to have been taken in the 1960s shows many vehicles parked out the front of the Paragon cafe. (Photo Ken Pearsall.) Eric Kuhn, Peter and Mary Flaskas and Beth Kuhn. The current Harden Chinese restaurant where the Paragon was situated.
The death has occurred on March 6, of Peter Flaskas, who with his father Nick had the iconic Paragon Café in Neill Street for many years. Peter had been resident of a nursing home in French’s Forest for the past few years since his wife Mary died. He was aged 88. Peter was born on the Greek island of Kythera in 1928. Peter’s father Nick migrated to Australia in the 1930’s and bought the Garden of Roses café in Harden with his brother Tony. Nicholas established the Paragon Café after another brother Theo took over The Garden of Roses and Tony moved to Barmedman.
Peter migrated to Australia aged 7 years, with his mother and brother Andrew and was met by his dad when the ship docked at Woolomoloo. He was educated at Harden and worked in the café from an early age. Mary (Peter’s future wife) migrated to Australia in 1947 aged 14. Many residents of the twin towns will remember the Flaskas family as they ran a very well known and successful business and their café was popular with locals as well as travellers. It was the place to be before or after any social event in the towns. Many of our residents met at the Paragon café. It was said they had the best mixed grill in the district and their fruit juices, lemon, orange and pineapple were the best for miles around. Personally, I remember the Jaffa, which was a spider made with ice cream, chocolate flavouring and topped off with a bottle of Fanta. Peter and Mary had two children Joanne and Nick. They both live in Sydney. Paul McCarthy said, “1940 was a war year, but things were progressing very favourably in both business and sport.
Our rugby league team won the Maher Cup for the first time in history on Wednesday June 12, 1940. Flaskas Brothers Café was officially opened at 3pm on July 6, 1940. All the takings that day were donated to the District Hospital and the Patriotic Fund.” Paul said, “I remember when the fruit and vegetables were displayed with the apples individually half wrapped in tissue paper. The service was friendly and I met my friends there on a regular basis.” John and Barbie Hufton in their local legend story said that Nick was well known for handing out cigarettes and chocolates at the local railway station to the troops travelling on the trains. For his efforts he was made an honorary member of the RSL in the 1960’s. Joy McGrath, part time worker at the café and lifelong friend of Joanne Flaskas said, “Joanne and I went to school from Kinder through to year 10 together and we keep in touch. Joanne comes to Harden when we have our School reunions. I was very sad to hear of her father’s death.” Her husband Robert McGrath said he remembered delivering wood with his dad and how difficult it was to get the truck in the back yard of the café.
Eric Kuhn spoke fondly of his long time friend when he said, “Beth and I had just been married and we were looking to buy a house. I approached the manager of the NAB bank for a housing loan and was knocked back. I happened to mention this to Peter and he said, ‘Leave it to me’, he went across to the bank and told the manager that he would guarantee my housing loan. We had our loan in no time.” Peter was a very keen rugby league supporter and Eric said that he remembered Peter putting on free meals for the local Maher Cup players after the game. Eric said that it had been quite a few years since he had seen him but he counted him as a good friend. Con and Dennis, friends of Peter eventually took over the café in the late 60’s and ran it with the Flaskas assistance before they moved to Sydney in 1968.They continued in the café until the mid 70’s before it became the Chinese Restaurant.
Peter invested in a milk bar with his brother-in-law at Lindfield. He then bought a tobacconist shop at Manly and followed this up with the purchase of two more in Gordon and Gladesville. He retired at 57 and travelled with his wife back to Greece, especially to Kythera many times. Peter’s daughter Joanne said the family had their very first holiday in 1972 with a trip to Greece. It was Peter’s first trip home to the old country. Mary passed away on 28th May 2014 aged 81 years. Peter’s children Joanne (Psaltis) works with her solicitor husband as a legal secretary. They have two children, daughter Eleni, (a journalist with the ABC) and Christopher who works for an audio visual company in Sydney. Peter’s funeral was held yesterday in Sydney. I am sure many residents join with us in offering our condolences to the Flaskas family.
