28: Zopolos Block – 1910, 550 North Market Boulevard

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A colony of Greeks settled in Chehalis near the dawn of the 20th century, among them Nicholas Zopolos, who immigrated to the United States in 1897 from his hometown of Limni in the Evias province of Greece. His brothers, Andrew and John, soon followed in 1907, and the brothers operated a Greek restaurant known as Zopolos Brothers, where Nick served as proprietor, Andrew as a waiter, and John as a cook. By the early 1920s, the Zopolos Brothers relocated their restaurant to this one-story Beau Arts building sided with gray granite to complement the Chehalis Theater to its north. By the late 1920s, the eatery was called the San Francisco Café, catering to local residents and people stopping at the Greyhound bus station. During the Depression, with fewer people traveling and eating out, the business floundered, and eventually closed. In the summer of 1936, the building and its assets were sold at the courthouse to pay an outstanding debt of $32,449.46. John Zopolos moved to San Francisco with his family, but Andrew and Nick remained in Chehalis.