Thessaloniki: The historic “Domna” has turned eighty but has not aged

“Domna” (1943-2023), the historic tavern of Ano Polis, which was described as the “mother of all taverns”, turned 80. A dog house (perhaps the only survivor in the area) that “nourished” generations and generations of people who were looking for something “strong” and at the same time “different” in party entertainment. People who adopted the motto: “let’s have a good time”, expressed by the owner of Takis (Panagiotis) Nikolaidis, the man who kept the shop open for almost six decades, until 2010 when he passed away and “Domna” passed into the hands of the children him, Kostas and Christos.

With Takis at the “helm”, “Domna” operated daily until 1995. Then it closed, because Takis retired. But not for long since everything showed that this shop could not be closed. The world demanded it, his friends deserved it. And Takis made the decision and now only opened it every Tuesday. So, for friends.

In the new operating period of “Domna” the use of the jukebox was stopped and some musicians joined Takis’ “team”, three of whom are still playing today: Stefanos Boudouloulis (guitar, vocals), Philippas Hatziefstratiou (harmonica, vocals) and Yiannis Galanidis (bouzouki, singing). They were joined for years by: Thodoros (Roulis) Markou who played the bouzouki and Giorgos Apotsos who played the guitar. Both have been discontinued for some years.

The first three complete almost a quarter of a century since they first played in “Domna”, while Christos Koutsos was added to their team a year and a half ago, making the musical result “richer”, both with his bouzouki and his voice and with its historical references to songs, persons and situations.

And who didn’t go through “Domna”

And who didn’t pass by this little place… Resonant names from the fields of the spirit, art, journalism and politics left their mark on the drenched with lint, sweat, meat and nicotine, but above all, memories, walls of castle walking tavern. Among them are Manos Katrakis, Thanasis Veggos, Jeni Karezi, Costas Kazakos, Aliki Vougiouklakis, Vassilis Diamantopoulos, Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Mimis Fotopoulos, Costas Hatzichristos, Nikos Stavridis, Dinos Iliopoulos, Yanis Fertis, Phaedon Georgitsis but also: Dimitris Maronitis, Kostis Moskof, George Lianis, George Veltsos, Pavlos Zannas, Kostas Lachas, Takis Koulandrou, Spyros Saketas, Vangelis Venizelos, Pavlos Petridis, Dimitris Gousidis, Yiannis Kyriakidis, Panagiotis Spyrou, Christogiorgis Kaltsikis, George Antonopoulos, Dimitris Fatouros, Clearchos Tsousidis, Christos Zafeiris, Thomas Korovinis, Tassos Psarras, Agathonas Iakovides, Manolis Mitsias, Manolis Rasoulis, Nikos Papazoglou, Christos Nikolopoulos and so many others. Even Mikis Theodorakis crossed the threshold of “Domna” in the 70s. Today, the former prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, also climbs up “Domna” with his friends.

A special evening in memory of Takis

Recently, and more specifically midnight of Tuesday 28 March to Wednesday 29 March 2023, the evening at “Domna” changed its style and turned into a memorial evening for Takis Nikolaidis. And that’s because Takis died on March 28, 2010, Monday, and was buried on March 29, Tuesday (Great Tuesday), the day of “Domna”.

In fact, on that last night, his friends did not spend the night with him upstairs, which was his house, but downstairs, on the ground floor, in “Domna”, inside the shop, as was his wish.

Memories

And as was logical, a memorial night had many “deposits” of memories. Mainly from the musicians. Through them, the characteristics of a way of entertainment that no longer exists were perceived.

Philippas Hatziefstratiou, the magician of the harmonica, remembered the effective way that Takis used to force silence on the customers so that the musicians could be heard. “Shut up asses” he shouted, his mustache accentuating the smile on his face. And everyone was silent, but no one, as Philippas notes, was misunderstood. He also remembered that, at the time, Takis was working with a guy in the store who was masquerading and dressing sometimes as a tcholias and sometimes as a hanumissa. He was dancing and people were throwing rice at him. There was a lot of laughter! In general, various cute events took place. Somehow, as he says, the “Aristophanic” open-mouthed songs with phalluses, “Oo-la-la A” and “Oo-la-la B”, began. (not suitable for the uninitiated). “What is certain” Philippas points out is that “Takis liked everyone to have a good time. Both himself and all his friends.”

Stefanos Boutouloulis says that “Takis was involved in everything and he really appreciated good music”. He remembers how “whenever he heard a song he loved, he would stop what he was doing, and from wherever he was he would come there with us, like a patron, to sing and enjoy his song. Takis had several songs that he distinguished and loved, such as: “My sufferings are a burden”, “When the time comes”, “An old history”, “Don’t make my eyes angry”, “We who ate bread and salt together” etc.

“Takis may not have been educated, but he was very kind and honest. He had a zest for life and gathered in the shop students and many people of art and spirit”, says Christos Koutsos and refers to the plates he carved in the shop, “thick” plates. He specifically mentions the case with the … catheters. As he says, “many times Takis and his people used catheters and gave people to drink retsina. Except that sometimes they didn’t put resin in it but… And as you can understand, it was a disaster”

Yannis Galanidis who used to come to “Domna” as a student (’74-’79) remembers: “We used to go up in the evenings panting towards the Castles in large groups of students. Retsina, boogela, love affairs, drunkenness and on leaving, we staggered downhill, singing songs by Theodorakis.” Speaking about Takis, he says that “he was a charismatic person, a sociable person, with a sense of humor and a good voice. It is no coincidence that he maintained relationships and conversed with well-known and famous people from the fields of art, politics, journalism and science, and not only in Thessaloniki. One of them was Lefteris Papadopoulos with whom he was friends. He himself told us that he and Lefteris didn’t talk but… they hung out because they were both known to be tight-lipped.” In fact, Lefteris Papadopoulos met his wife Raya, inside “Domna” when he was coming to meet his journalist friends. Once he brought Manos Loizos with him.”

Referring to the pranks that took place in the shop, he laughs as he thinks about the pranks. “When time passed and people didn’t leave the store, Takis started yelling at them to chase them away. Well, and then it was a disaster…”, he says while still remembering that: “every Tuesday we married Takis, each time with a different girl. Whoever he liked, he would choose her through a “fixed” lottery and then dance the tango with her. We were throwing kufeta and rice around! The wedding was at midnight!”

He remembers that at the funeral of Takis, near the church of Agios Pavlos, the inseparable thing happened. “Not only the temple but also the whole courtyard was full of people,” he says and comments: “That was (Mr.) Takis”

After Takis

After the death of Takis and for almost eleven years his sons, Kostas and Christos opened “Domna” only every Tuesday night. Thus, as their father had established it. They did it to gather their father’s friends as well as their own. Just last year (in 2022) Saturday was added to the days that “Domna” is open, and this is because the demand for a table increased dramatically.

The beginning

Picking up the beginning of the thread of this 80-year journey, the first thing we come across (in 1943, in the middle of the war) is a small shop, a neighborhood bacalotaverna of the time, built by the refugee family Nikolaidis who found and took root in the area, like so many other refugees . It was opened by Domna (Stavridou), wife of Christos Nikolaidis (father of Takis Nikolaidis). That shop was called “Remataki”. Not by chance, but because the back of the shop was built on a rock from which water gushed. This formed a stream that passed through the shop and continued to the street, Athanasiou Diakou Street, and then fell to the small cliff formed by the slope. A children’s playground operates at that spot today. There is still this rock on the inner side of the shop, on the side where the kitchen is, but the stream is not there.

When Takis’s mother, Domna, died in 1952, the “Remataki” bakalotaverna was renamed “Domna” and some years later, in 1963, it started operating only as a tavern.

There are many more stories born there. Some of them are connected to the junta period as Takis had the means, the magic and the guts to keep it open even then. It is known to many that during the period of the junta, Takis had implemented an original way of communicating with his customers in order to deal with the difficulties of the time. For those who don’t know, let us mention that when Takis thought a suspicious person had entered the shop, probably a thief or an asphalite, he would put a nail or a fuse on the plates of known customers, respectively, to inform them discreetly. Domna’s “self-protection” system also included something else. On the jukebox, the song list was misleading. Thus, if the patron wanted to listen to a song by Mikis Theodorakis, for example, he pressed keys that referred to the “harmless” song “Maria Pentagiotissa” or the dance piece of the era “Yaga”.

Somehow, therefore, “Domna” was struggling to survive and move. Except that the stories started to circulate in the square and “Domna” acquired the reputation of… “resistance”. That’s why he entered the “eye” of security for good. It was during that period that the then student and later journalist, Clearchos Tsoushidis, was arrested.

At that time, the shop mainly gathered students. But the years passed and the then twenty-six and twenty-five-year-olds grew up, entered the labor market and became family heads. Some of them did not stop climbing towards “Domna”. When and as often as they could. Among the regular patrons of “Domna” is Takis (Christogeorgis) Kaltsikis, pr. vice chancellor of AUTH.

Takis Kaltsikis not only climbs to “Domna” every Tuesday, but is the soul of the group for old and new friends and, in addition, he selectively sings some of his favorite songs, such as “The song of old times” or otherwise “The times change and pass the years….” by Ilias Andriopoulos, in lyrics by Nikos Gatsos and the passage from Axion Esti by Odysseus Elytis “With the light of the star”

His presence is catalytic and decisive, especially for the newly enlightened. You see, anyone who walks through the door of the store is automatically considered a member of the extended company. It is as if everyone is sitting at the same table, even if the tables are scattered around the space. They all become a group that has fun together, eating, drinking, singing but also… dancing, as long as there is free space.

The impressive thing is that “Domna”, which history has listed in the “left” progressive resistance hangouts, has patrons of various political persuasions. You meet every “political walnut nut” at its tables. Everyone drinks, eats and sings together, without labels or restrictions. It is not unusual to see in “Domna” well-known right-wingers singing landmark songs of the left.

And something about the menu: At “Domna” you have the right to order whatever your heart desires, but the owners also reserve the right to serve you whatever… they have. However, one thing is certain: Everyone is happy. Small but essential differences that kept this historic shop high in the ranking of pareist entertainment. Even today.

For the sake of history, let us mention that four years ago, in this shop, the composer and master of the bouzouki, Yiannis Karasavvas conceived the idea of ​​creating the musical group: “The ten bouzoukis of “Domna”. A shape that appeared only twice in “Domna” and then went out on the market following a self-lit and autonomous course.