Page 57 - Bulletin 12 2008

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To South Africa

In 1928 three young friends took the long boat journey to Cape Town. They were Alec
Bassios and Christos Yiatsis (who were married to two Kolovos sisters), and their good

friend Stavros Hartziavalos. (Fig. 2.32). In South Africa, Stavros Hartziavalos simplified

his name to Stephanos Stavrou. Life was hard for them, particularly as they had no money.
They had also left their families behind in Sotira. (Fig.2.33). They started out as bottle-

washers in the Stellenbosch café belonging to John Costas. Later they moved on from there
to work as chefs in Cape Town restaurants. (Fig. 2.34). This was the time of the Great

Depression, but they worked hard and managed to save.

In 1931 Stephanos Stavrou went into partnership with another Greek, Basil Cousis, in a

shop in Kalk Bay; in 1933 he went into partnership with another Greek, Leonidas Tsatis,
and started another shop in Kalk Bay. They named the business after their initials - SL

Bazaars. (Fig. 2.36). SL Bazaars was operated by the Stavrou family for many years. The

premises survive today as the Kalk Bay Supermarket.

The Kalk Bay they found was a community full of services, shops, butchers, drapers,
chemists, hairdressers, and so on. It was a popular holiday destination whereas Fish Hoek

was still just sand dunes. Bassios & Cousis owned the “Station Café”.

In 1935 the rest of the Bassios family came to Kalk Bay. (Fig. 2.35). My father Demetrios

“Jimmy” Bassios was 9, his brother Stavros (who died shortly thereafter) was 14, and his
sister Niki was 7. All members of the family worked at the Station Café and lived in a flat

above the shop. In 1936 Stavrou visited Sotira. Cousis moved to Fish Hoek and built the
Krinos Building presently housing Jimmy’s Sports.