Remember Greeks in Greece at Holiday time!

The Holiday Season lets us consider what we can do to help others, instead of falling for the crazy commercialism swirling around us. I am "downsizing" to move into a smaller place and constantly wondering, "Why do I have this (fill in the blank)?"

St. Basil's Church supports both it's own parish family and wonderful outside programs like the One Warm Coat Foundation, the local Emergency Food Bank, and the Salvation Army's Angel Tree. That is so cool. When I was a kid we didn't have that kind of focus -- which goes to show how the Greek-American Community  has not only grown, but has real impact beyond gyro sandwiches and yalaktoboureko. There is great pride both in being Greek and being part of the larger community. Opa!

But have we forgotten someone? How about the Greeks in Greece?

Have we followed the bitter facts of their situation beyond news of bail-outs/no bailouts or corruption in Greek politics? Things may seem a bit stabilized on an international level, but too many Greeks are jobless (27%) and no longer have access to healthcare, depending on underground clinics or other emergency resources. Senior citizens are going without their medications (or begging for money in the streets, true story). Who is at fault? Certainly not the growing number of children who are going to school hungry.  Seriously...these are real people we are talking about!

And some of those people are our relatives. Do we know how they are doing?  Have we sent them something they might need, even a cash gift to lift them up?  Or have we joined the smug chorus of critics that casts blame and heaps ridicule on people who have no control over the situation?

Many Greek-Americans nationally are helping (see: Project Hope for Greece). Now the Holidays provide a great opportunity to do our part to help Greeks in Greece.  If we can't be proud of Greece fulltime through thick and thin, then what exactly is the point of Greek pride? Just sayin'...



The Palace Candy Store & Fountain/Restaurant

It's hard to document details of life for Stockton Greek-Americans early/mid 20th Century without pictures of buildings inside and out as well as of people.  My September Stockton stay included pestering friends/relatives for old photos.  Thanks to everyone who helped! 


Courtesy of The Haggin Museum

Good information tracing family movement through the years is available in old City Directories found at the public library.  But when you get a lead on an old family address, that home or business may simply no longer exist -- like the Palace Candy Store & Fountain/  Restaurant, which was located at 216 Main Street a few doors down from what became the Fox (now the Bob Hope) Theater. My Papou George Sarris was the cook, with candy-making duties.  Think See's Candies of Stockton...



Jane & Kathy w/Aunt Libby

The Palace was owned by Bill and Sophia Demakopoulos (my Papou's sister).  They had 5 children -- Evelyn, Jimmy, Demie, Nick and Georgia -- and last lived at 320 W.  Poplar before moving to Santa Cruz.  The children also eventually moved away except for Dr. Nick Demas, who married Lilla ("Ginger" from Georgia). They had 2 daughters, Kathy and Jane.  Kathy got the call; did she have any photos of the Palace? She had one, with  her Papou and uncle Demie standing outside. The sign in the window says, "A complete dinner 50 cents."



Demie & Bill Demakopoulos

The same photo turned up a few days later in Aptos (Santa Cruz) where I happily visited with Connie Mellis, daughter-in-law of Evelyn Mellis and now the matriarch of that side of the clan.  Appointments with Bill Maxwell (Archive Manager, Bank of Stockton) and Todd Ruhstaller (CEO/Curator of History @ The Haggin Museum) turned up 2 downtown photos from the early 20's with the Palace sign clearly visible.

I have dreamy memories of visiting the Palace as a child -- allowed into Papou's inner sanctum and then to eat lunch (roast turkey with a scoop of mashed potatoes cradling delicious brown gravy) along with my Mom in one of the booths. That was a little girl's most favorite thing. 

But the business closed down around 1952...and I have no pictures of that kitchen or those booths or the candy room upstairs where Yiayia Sarris worked boxing bonbons after Hilda had dipped them in chocolate. Does anyone out there have any photos of the inside of the Palace Candy Store & Fountain/Restaurant to share?  There is a reward!

New Prosforon bakers always needed!

Prosforon ("Offering") is the altar bread used for communion, literally transformed into the body of  Christ during the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy. And it does not come from a bakery.

It is offered by a congregant who has baked 5 loaves stamped with a religious seal at home and brought them to church, usually with a list of family names (living and deceased) to be read during the service. 


 A few days ago, I was lucky to get a Prosforon-baking lesson. It took place in a home kitchen where my grandmother Eugenia Sarris had given my teacher that very same lesson. I am sure there is more than one kitchen in Stockton/Lodi/Tracy where that happened -- just like other women taught their daughters and friends over time, passing on a tradition of serving the church in this most meaningful way.

It's not so difficult to bake these loaves, just important to pay attention and make them exactly as proscribed -- beautifully round and smooth, lightly-browned with a clear-cut seal. It's a labor of love dependent on good yeast, purposeful kneading and no bubbles. (Before baking, 12 pricks with a toothpick are made at an angle around the seal, with four more around the inner square and one in the middle to facilitate the priest's work preparing the sacrament.)

At St. Basil's, one congregant bakes the Prosfora for every Divine Liturgy during an entire month. Sometimes it's not so easy to line up 12 bakers for this important task, so new volunteers are always needed to keep up the baking tradition that has been so much a part of St. Basil's Church life for 84 years. 

How about you? Baking lessons (if needed) will be provided. I can vouch for that!

The REAL Stockton Farmer's Market

Many farmers from as far as Fresno sell their wares at the Saturday Farmer's Market in downtown Stockton. It takes place on Lafayette under the freeway...just a stone's throw from where the original St.Basil's Church on Stanislaus used to be, and not too far from the poultry store where you can still get chicken feet. 

Gorgeous vegetables and fruits of all kinds -- some of which I was totally unfamiliar with -- are set out for your inspection and purchase. And all manner of fish and seafood including many sizes/types of cuttlefish, are also on display. It's a sight to behold! 

I could picture my father Steve stalking the numerous  colorful pepper displays in search of his beloved jalapenos, especially now that Centro Mart over on Alpine and Franklin no longer exists. And my mother Angeline would, I am sure, have drooled (figuratively, not literally) over the beautiful crabs I saw -- not unlike those we used to buy at the iconic Busalacchi Fish Market on a part of Channel Street that no longer exists either...

Never before had I seen seen a prickly-looking bitter melon or sweet potato greens or hairy wild potatoes or tiny eggplants the size of cranberries.  And how about the ginger still on its long stalk, who knew?

 

And just so you know, nice big bunches of dandelion greens ("horta") were available for $1 a bunch. Now, that's a really good deal that you won't be getting over at the Delta College Farmer's Market. The REAL Farmer's Market is a real super saver, plain and simple!

Stacey L. Davis of Gardena Avenue

2445 Gardena Avenue today

Saddened to open the Stockton Record yesterday and find an obituary for Stacey L. Davis, our long-time neighbor on Gardena Avenue. Stacey was born around the time we moved to that neighborhood, had two brothers Brad and Bruce Long, and like us attended Daniel Webster Jr. High and Stagg High. The Longs were always good neighbors, a tradition upheld by Stacey and her husband Jim Davis, with whom I visited yesterday afternoon.  The Davises were always kind to my parents in their later years, especially when they were locked out or had some other issue/emergency.

And it turns out that Stacey, in addition to being an oncology nurse, was an avid horsewoman -- and "past president of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Mounted Posse, riding in the Honor Guard in many local parades in addition to providing posse security at the Asparagus Festival and at Lincoln Center events."  You might think you know someone, but then you really don't...

As I might have reported before, a Papapavlo's employee bought my parents' house back then -- and Jim now tells me that her parents may well be moving into Bessie and George Pappas' house on Oxford Way, just around the corner. So the beat goes on!