Post #771884 by HopeChest on Tue, Jan 10, 2017 4:41 PM

Wow……this is utterly fascinating. Just when you think nothing else could turn up in your backyard. Interesting info and tantalising gaps…

So far I have seen both Alec and Alex used as his first name, with Alexander being the full first name. I can place him and his wife in San Francisco in 1915, which obviously pre-dates his time in Papeete. His wife was named Leticia (or Laetitia, I have seen both) and they had at least one daughter and son, who were raised in Tahiti. I do not know when he would have left the States for Tahiti.

Now, back in this era there were two social clubs in Papeete: the Cercle Militaire and the Cercle Bougainville, touched on briefly in the thread about Dr. Funk:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29020&forum=10

The Cercle Militaire was snobbish and exclusive to government employees and those of a similar import. The Cercle Bougainville, however, was enjoyed by gamblers, hedonists, smugglers, and adventurers – the bourgeois, the commoners. If the Militaire was a reminder of the bespoke yet stuffy English gentleman’s club, the Bougainville was more reminiscent of the Barbary Coast. Stergios worked at the Cercle Bougainville. I have no idea if the Cercle Bougainville and the Tahiti Yacht Club are connected in any way (they could be the one and the same, for all I know).

I am unable to find exactly when he returned to San Francisco with his family but it was the early to mid-1930s. The address of the two businesses that Club Nouméa mentions was 142 Francisco St., on the corner of Grant. The edifice is long gone.

Now, I have no idea on the date of this but would you take a look at this utter beauty:

I can barely find any info whatsoever on the Tahiti Club. In a 1936 San Francisco publication there is a listing for:

*GArfield-9334 DOuglas-0576

Featuring “Rainbow Cocktail”

Alex Stergios Rendevouz
Francisco at Grant

Nino Brambilla Alex Stergios *

In addition, that same year I find a separate commercial listing for an Iris “Brambrilla” at 142 Francisco, which is probably Nino’s wife. Nino Brambilla was a world traveller who was very well connected to the SF restaurant / nightlife scene and a fixture for years at several well-known places, either as a host or as an owner. It appears that Brambilla and Stergios met in Papeete, then went into business in San Francisco. The men and their families must have grown quite close, as Nino would go on to name a son Anthony Stergios Brambilla. The next generation of the Brambilla and Stergios families would follow their fathers into the SF restaurant business.

There’s also a tiny connection to the Tahitian Hut:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=37329&forum=2

…in that the Goupil family owned the Tahitian Hut and Augie Goupil & His Royal Tahitians (aka The Royal Tahitians) performed at Stergios’ Rendezvous Club.

By 1938 Brambilla was out, Stergios was now working with two new partners in Nelson Hawks and Dennis Murphy, and the business had been renamed The Beachcomber Café. Dinner was available and there were floor shows on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

I need to keep digging and see what else shakes loose.

Cheers!