Remember the days of Dunedin eateries La Scala, August Moon or Big Daddy’s?
Award-winning playwright and former Robert Burns Fellow (2019), Emily Duncan is looking for anyone with direct contact with the site as she seeks to uncover personal stories of the site and the people who worked with it.
Duncan began researching Dunedin’s “incredibly diverse” 20th-century restaurants including restaurants, cafes, tea rooms or pubs as part of his Friends of Hocken Collection Award.
Each of these places represents the intersection of dreams or aspirations, cultural values and economic activities within the city, he says. It is a place where people gather to celebrate or enjoy important personal or public events, socializing, eating different foods and drinks and sometimes music or other performances.
“I don’t consider myself a foodie or anything but people often go to restaurants for events that are important to them. One place I remember going to as a child is Carnarvon Station. When I was a child it was amazing – they have train carriages. How did this happen? Immediately without really wanting to know. It was a very special place to go.”
Duncan’s aim is to take his research from institutions such as the Hocken and National Library, Heritage New Zealand and Dunedin City Libraries and any stories he finds into a series of monologues that he and two actors will perform later this year.
“When you write a play, you’re not writing history or a Wikipedia page – it’s some place that might not be covered in mainstream history.”
He had the idea of ”knocking around” and it “stuck” and built into his Phd research.
“A restaurant or a restaurant is a private place and a public place and when I put on my theater hat there are special roles that people have when they eat in a restaurant. There are places people can go and places they can’t.”
Duncan, co-founder of Prospect Park Productions, has also been interested in looking at different properties, where businesses have changed such as the former Hob Nob cafe down Princes St.
“The building has now been altered and is in need of repair. It will take a long time to see it as the resort of the time.”
The diversity of the Dunedin area meant that he wanted “flexible room” in his thinking to allow him to follow whatever he could find in the Hocken Collections.
“Even though I’ve posted a few places there have been some where I’ve gotten nothing and others where something has come out of the cloud that’s too good to run.”
One of them was a 1953 dinner hosted by the club, which no longer exists, to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation.
“There are interesting parallels with the King’s Coronation this year and if the club still exists it is underground.”
He thought the National Library might have a menu for that dinner but said it didn’t, although it kept the club’s minutes.
“It was a little book with…minutes written in a fountain and it was stuck [in] all their lists from their meetings and bingo. They had one for this dinner including an autograph page for all who attended. Findings like that are golden.”
Just like today, some hospitality businesses have grown over the years and others for less before becoming known.
“Places like Savoy lasted a long time. Then there was Rio Grande in Princes St – it was very successful for a few years. The owner, Mr Pagonis, had several places over the years.”
At first he was not looking at the Savoy as it was very popular but Hocken bought a lot of Savoy plate glasses.
“It wasn’t just amazing, there were all the pictures of the kitchen and the staff working in the kitchen and you don’t see that.”
Most of the pictures he got of the various restaurants were of the various business people dining in places like the Savoy and La Scala and not behind the scenes.
“I didn’t want it to be a series of people eating different foods; I wanted different people, different roles.”
He found he needed to slow down the list of places to watch just a little and his research led him to – La Scala (early 1960s), August Moon (mid 1970s) and Big Daddy’s (late 1980s).
“I feel that I have an important responsibility that if there are people who are directly connected to this place they should have the opportunity to contribute.”
Looking at the history of La Scala he found that new liquor laws came in, allowing restaurants to sell wine and beer at the table within strict limits as it is served at the table. It took a lot of digging to find the day he got his liquor license.
Then he saw in PapersPast a lot of ads for meat distribution so he “went down the search lane”.
“How did the restaurant work in serving the meat? That was really interesting because you see all these different dishes that were served that I’ve never seen before. It may have gone away, but they gave it out to go around.”
From his research in the old editions of Otago Daily TimesBig Daddy’s was very popular with tourists in the 1970s and international students.
“A few people I talked to would remember.”
Finding photos from the Moray Pl area of town rather than the Exchange area, which appears to have been photographed more, proved as difficult for Duncan as finding evidence of the original hotel. At the suggestion of a Hocken employee, he looked at fire maps from the late 1800s.
“Look, look, it was settled.”
This led to a look at the old Stone Directories, which listed businesses.
“There was an advertisement for this restaurant and a half-sized picture.
It was a bingo moment – there it was. ”
One of the challenges of this project was the discipline it required to stop searching and sit down and write something.
“This needs to be focused on – you’re not teaching a lesson. What is this person’s world like in this time and place?”
After the first round of research and writing, Duncan is now focusing on developing the script with director and screenwriter Kim Morgan and actors Barbara Power and Phil Grieve.
“We’ll try things out, see what flies and what doesn’t. That gives me enough time to go back and look at things before they’re presented as public readings at a legacy event.”
Pictures and images will be displayed on the screen related to different locations and “appropriate” music.
He hopes that the audience will come, not only to hear his work but also to share their stories like you do when you eat in public.
“The positive change from this will be to open people’s eyes to what kind of tools are in Hocken and how they can find them themselves.”
To contact Duncan, email emily@prospectpark.co.nz
TO SEE:
EstablishmentEmily Duncan, Ambassador Dunedin Southern Heritage Festival 2023, October 7, 2pm, seminar room, Hocken Collections
#Dunedins #bygone #restaurant #days
