Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Pappas.
The Athens Market opened in 1932 as a small Greek market. In 1963, it was purchased by Mary’s aunt, Veneta, who converted the back portion of the market into a small eatery, serving one meal daily. In October 1974, she needed to sell the restaurant for an extended vacation to Japan to be with her son who was stationed on the Midway which now is a Museum in the Harbor of San Diego.
In May of 1974, Mary attended a Greek festival at her church where they were raffling off a new car. Each ticket sold for $50.00 (a lot of money in those days for one ticket) Just before the drawing took place her gut kept saying over and over buy a ticket buy a ticket, she did, and she won the big prize. She decided to take the money instead of the car which she used to purchase the Athens Market the following October. The rest is history ….
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth road, no struggles. Only a lot of hard work.
Please tell us about Athens Market Taverna.
The business is an award winning Greek restaurant located in the Marina district of down town San Diego.
90% of our clientele are regulars. Some eat here every day. All our clients feel at home here. We are near all the courts so during lunches we feed all the attorneys and judges. At dinner we have mostly downtown residents.
This spot is like Cheers and much more where everybody knows your name.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Not so favorite. I grew up in a small village in Greece where my father owned the only restaurant where my job was to clean onions and my eyes would cry. That ended when I was 15 and came to the US on a student visa.
Pricing:
- Lunch $8.00 to $20.00
- Dinner *.00 to $28.00
- Wine $20 to $260.00
Contact Info:
- Website: athensmarkets.com
- Phone: 619-234-1955
- Email: athensmarketsd@gmail.com
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
