|
Post by richard on Jan 23, 2006 2:11:20 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ricky_Berkey on Mar 8, 2006 13:46:44 GMT -5
Guess we all saw the paper today and the news that the organ is gone. I suppose it was one of those offers they just couldn't sensibly refuse. Hopefuly the new wave of downtown development can take an interest in Zaharako's before it is too late too save the rest. I realize that it's just another private business but it means so much to the community....or it should.
|
|
|
Post by David Sechrest on Mar 8, 2006 17:45:17 GMT -5
I remember this "monstrosity" with fond memories. Back around 1968 when I started working at Zaharako's, I was hired and quickly promoted from being unemployed to "the busser of dishes and dishwasher." There was an intercom speaker hooked up in the kitchen area, as when I was back there busily performing the job I was being paid 65 cents an hour to do, I couldn't see the front of the restaurant. Usually Louie or Manual's voice, sounding like something at a bad drive-up at McDonalds or Burger King, blasted from the speaker. The first few times, I couldn't hear what they were saying. I soon learned it really didn't matter that I couldn't hear what they were saying. "The Voice" meant it was time to immediately drop whatever it was I was doing, grab the push cart, and head out to buss the tables. The organ more or less hid the doorway that was used by us dishwashers, so when the organ was fired up, it could be heard very well (to say the least)! Two weeks after the busy Christmas season started, I got know know all of the songs it played, as well as an off-tune pipe here and there. I even hummed the songs in the same off-key fashion that it played them. The organ was played ALOT during this time of year. None of us were allowed to get it going. It was always Lou, Manual, or Pete that fired it up. On those long Saturdays at Christmas time, I went home at night hearing those songs in my sleep! Somewhere around here, I have a record of nothing but calliope music. It reminds me of fairs and Zaharako's...
|
|
Rhonda
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 279
|
Post by Rhonda on Mar 11, 2006 19:16:43 GMT -5
This is a recent (February 2005) photo of the organ in Zaharako's. I took it last year when our local antique club met there.
|
|
Rhonda
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 279
|
Post by Rhonda on Mar 11, 2006 19:19:11 GMT -5
Another photo from our visit of February 2005. When we were there, there was still one adult-sized ice cream parlor table and chair set.........and the one child-sized set. Wouldn't surprise me if those "disappeared" soon, too.
|
|
Rhonda
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 279
|
Post by Rhonda on Mar 11, 2006 19:26:04 GMT -5
If you'd like to see more photos here, let me know. I have several more of the interior.
|
|
mfaure
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 53
|
Post by mfaure on Mar 14, 2006 14:39:16 GMT -5
THE GREEKS What great memories. I can still taste a Hot Fudge nut Sundae. By the way all the chairs and tables were of the bentwood type until they changed sometime in the late 40's or early 50's.
You mentioned a problem with your mom, nanc. Sure hope Roseanne is O K now. What's the update.
Is J K my dear cousin that rode horses with nanc, sharon and I? If so, "hi cous"
later Margie
|
|
nancs
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 948
|
Post by nancs on Mar 28, 2006 10:01:46 GMT -5
Hi Margie, et al, and perhaps not the 'best' place to post, but since you asked in this thread, Margie.................(and thanks for asking.) And "The Greeks" has always been one of my mom's favorite places------and her choice, 'a chocolate soda, from the Greeks,' the way she would say it. No other chocolate soda ever can compare in her eyes. It has been a grueling month, and today the first time that I have had time to check the message boards since way back when. AND WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW 'FACES' THAT I NOTED!!!! Mom is doing okay, once we figured out the problem. She is currently in a skilled nursing facility working on some swallowing issues and making great progress, and we are hoping 'to break her out' before too long. And get everyone back to 'something like normal.' And yes, JK is who you think it is!!!!! So looking forward to July and getting to visit. Margie, let me know on the pencils and I will get a check into the mail. Love to all, Nanc
|
|
|
Post by clarkfoster on May 31, 2006 13:35:04 GMT -5
I have great memories of "The Greeks". Loved the "Cheese Brrrgrrs" (sorry about the spelling) and my favorite drink was a Green River. Looked forward to seeing the Christmas displays. I went to school with Anne Z. from 7th grade thru H.S. (Of course then it was just C.H.S.) I still try to look her up when I get back. I wonder if anyone has memories of the (old) Olympia Dairy? A true hang-out for my old gang at Central Junior High. (Hail to thee, Thanks to thee, Central Junior High....!!) Clark Foster
|
|
|
Post by richard on Jun 23, 2006 7:11:59 GMT -5
From The Republic today. Lew Zaharako, 58 died at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, 2006, in Louisville, Ky. Mr. Zaharako was one of the owners of the historic Zaharako’s Confectionary. He died at Jewish Hospital following a long illness. Arrangements are incomplete.
|
|
|
Post by David Sechrest on Jun 23, 2006 18:52:48 GMT -5
It's been a sad day around here...
After I read Richard's post this morning, I called the Zaharako family. It seems that Lew went in for bypass surgery earlier this month. Everything went fine with that. However, he developed a leak and the doctors had to go back in and repair that. That went fine as well. With no warning whatsoever, a bloodclot developed somewhere at the base of the skull, on the spinal cord, and Lew went in to a coma. He passed on shortly thereafter.
I saw Lew about 6 or 7 weeks ago at the Downtown Grocery. He looked the best I've seen him look for a long time. He'd lost about 40 pounds and was in a really good mood.
Lew was a good friend of mine. He was also a HUGE supporter of the Historic Columbus Indiana website. He was always so concerned about my health and he meant it. I truly enjoyed stopping in and chatting with him...sitting on the stool where Manual Zaharako sat many times, talking to his friends.
I first met Lew in 1967. He was going to school and would come "home" and work at Zaharako's during the busy season, i. e., from Thanksgiving to Christmas. All the Zaharako kids, Lew, Ted, Anne, and Jim, always worked on the weekends during this time.
Lew was a very smart man. It took a while to get to know him. He was a very private person and didn't gossip about others.
The last time I saw him inside Zaharako's, he was so excited about the work going on regarding the ceiling. He was so concerned about damaging that fragile tinwork. He found someone who knew how to work with it. The old paint was being removed and the tin ceiling was being repainted. He talked of getting the place cleaned up, and was really excited about all of it.
Lew loved going to the library. Next to Zaharako's, I think that was his second favorite place. He spent alot of time there.
I enjoyed listening to his stories about the Zaharako family and the history of Zaharako's. And I so much enjoyed sitting in the place and remembering what it was like when I worked there back in 1967. The hustle and bustle of people that visited...those crazy weekends when busloads of people came to eat and visit...the pipe organ playing non-stop...it was truly a remarkable time...
I'm going to miss Lew. When I spoke to the family earlier this morning, it was neither the time nor place to ask about the future of Zaharako's...that information will come soon enough.
But the place will never be the same without him...
|
|
nancs
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 948
|
Post by nancs on Jul 20, 2006 11:06:48 GMT -5
Hi, and trying to read my notes of the last week in Columbus, and in visiting with Charlie Snyder, IF I am reading my notes correctly, in response to a post I made some time back.......... Hi to all, and having just returned from my uncle's (John F. Hughes, CHS, 1924) 100th birthday party in Texas, I have a little story to relate.
My uncle has a mind like a steel trap, and has actually written (typed, no less) and filled several notebooks with his memories. One could wish that our own parents were as ambitious in their efforts to record memories.
As we were talking this past week he made mention that when he was in high school, living in Burnsville, he drove a horse and buggy into town to attend school in Columbus. During bad weather months he lived with a family in town and stabled his horse at the livery stable.
He also worked at "The Greeks" and made mention of a Gus Zaharako and another brother who had only one leg. As near as I can figure this is the generation before the brothers that most of us recall. It seems that the brother with one leg spent a good deal of time perched on a stool near the front of the store at the fountain. My dad started working at O'Bryan's jewelry store at the age of 14 as the mailboy. According to my uncle, my dad would come into "The Greeks" and "match" coins with the one-legged brother to see if he would receive a free drink. Can see that happening, as my dad was always game to match somebody for a cup of coffee.Charlie related that James was the father of Manuel, Gus, Louie, et al, and the one legged gentleman that is referred to was PETE, and James' brother. Thanks, Charlie, for solving yet another puzzle lurking in my head. Nanc
|
|
|
Post by Ricky_Berkey on Aug 3, 2006 20:22:47 GMT -5
Anyone know what is happening with Zaharakos. There was a crew in there today cleaning the place up, perhaps for a sale, perhaps for a re-opening. We can only hope for the best. It seems like the downtown redevelopment commission would have a great deal of interest in Zaharako's but that hasn't seemed like the case. They are likewise showing little interest in the Crump. Hopefully they have both have a important place in the master plan.
|
|
Margo CHS Class of 55
HCI Forum Board Member
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind; it doesn't matter.
Posts: 376
|
Post by Margo CHS Class of 55 on Aug 6, 2006 12:03:20 GMT -5
Ricky I had some one tell me Friday night that they were shipping everything out and would close the place down. SAY IT ISN'T SO....PLEASE? This person has given me erroneous information before- - - so will not say it's true ...at least at this date 8-6-06. If it is...Columbus has lost a MAJOR ASSET to the Down town area.
|
|
Rhonda
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 279
|
Post by Rhonda on Aug 8, 2006 18:32:41 GMT -5
On the day of our historic Columbus celebration, I heard from a reliable source, that a local business person is in negotiations to buy Zaharako's, clean it up, and get it going again.
|
|
Rhonda
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 279
|
Post by Rhonda on Aug 8, 2006 18:36:52 GMT -5
At the request of Margo, here is a photo of the children's ice cream parlor table and chairs from Zaharako's dining room. This set is over 100 years old. The photo was taken in February of 2005. You can see how small the set is. Notice someone's purse on the floor behind it.
|
|
Margo CHS Class of 55
HCI Forum Board Member
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind; it doesn't matter.
Posts: 376
|
Post by Margo CHS Class of 55 on Aug 8, 2006 23:47:11 GMT -5
Thank you so much Rhonda ! Oh - - - so many happy memories of the McCalip family and it's descendents over many years around this table. We always felt VERY SPECIAL as a child when I sat there ..and all the other members of my family since then. I am still hoping I am able to have a 4 generation picture taken around it. It certainly has held up well over so many years !!
|
|
|
Post by Ricky_Berkey on Aug 10, 2006 12:23:01 GMT -5
From The Republic: 8/3/2006 Memorial pays tribute to attorney, businessman
Staff Reports
Bartholomew County Bar Association remembered Lew Zaharako with a recent memorial program and resolution.
Zaharako, an attorney in Columbus during the 1970s and 1980s, later operated Zaharako's Confectionery on Washington Street. He died on June 21.
Among those speaking at the program were Senior Judge Norm Curry and attorneys Tom Bigley, Dan Pattrson and Kent Witte, who participated in a daily "coffee club" at Zaharako's.
Jennings County Prosecutor Gary Smith presented a resolution paying tribute to Zaharako on behalf of the Jennings County Bar Association.
Zaharako graduated from Indiana University School of Law in 1974.
He served in the Air Force Reserve and as deputy attorney general in consumer protection for Indiana before he began practicing law in Columbus.
He served as an attorney in Columbus from 1977 to 1989 and practiced in an association with Curry and Donald Edwards.
|
|
RER
HCI Forum Board Member
"Democracy & Freedom"
Posts: 2,462
|
Post by RER on Oct 28, 2006 5:42:14 GMT -5
"Zaharakos Gone But Not Forgotten"
|
|
|
Post by David Sechrest on Nov 6, 2006 12:02:59 GMT -5
For us local "old timers," this Christmas season is going to feel a little strange with Zaharako's being closed. I don't know what year Zaharako's began their decorating tradition. I would imagine it dates back to the 1940's(?), but throughout the 1950's and 1960's, there was never any place in Columbus that even came close to rivaling Zaharako's "Feast For The Eyes." At this day and age, I feel it a privilege that I had the opportunity to partake in helping to put up all those colorful displays for the 1967 holiday season. Some of those same decorations were still being used two years ago (Lou didn't have the manpower to put everything up last holiday season). When I was a little kid and mom and dad took me and my sister to Zaharako's at Christmas time, I always thought to myself "this must be what the North Pole looks like." If my sister and I didn't sit in those little chairs, I stared through the glass sides and the lights went on forever. The only thing missing in Zaharako's at Christmas time was Santa himself! As I sit here thinking, I really can't think of any other place of business that went "as all out" at Christmas time as Zaharko's. Maybe some of you out there can remember other places... It amazed me, the throngs of people that came through those front doors that holiday season in 1967! It wasn't unusual for the line of people to extend out onto Washington Street sidewalk. We had special busloads of people that came as well. I was truly glad that I was no longer a busboy, or a dishwasher, but when things got really crazy, I did a little of that, too. I don't know how all of us worked behind the counter. At any given time, there would be 3 to 5 soda jerks, plus Manual, Louie, Pete, and on weekends, Ted, Lew, and Ann. Lou and Pete spent most of their time at the chair in the "office." I never saw Manual sit back there. Manual sat at the counter when he wasn't making cheese brrgrr's, drinking coffee and shooting the bull with the regulars. Zaharako's made their own ice cream then. They no longer made their own candies, but bought bulk for the cases, and boxes of Whitman's for sitting on top of the display cases. So, with that, here are a series of pictures I took of Zaharko's way back in 2001...
|
|