In the beginning there was Damiani’s.
I’m not sure when in the ‘70s the late Danny Damiani opened a cool bar and coffee house at the Paris end of Hastings Street, but it was there when I first came to Noosa on business in 1981. (The trips through the ‘70s as a young surfer don’t count because all we had eyes for was the surf on the points and a cheap feed and a cold beer at the Reef Hotel.)
But when I came on business in ’81 and the big moves went down at Damiani’s, it was more like funny business, although innocent enough. I was the editor of Australian Penthouse magazine and we were in town to recruit nude models for a Girls of Noosa pictorial feature. (I’m not making this up, but sometimes I wish I was.)
We set up shop at Damiani’s and interviewed local ladies who had a good story and were prepared to bare all for a very small fortune. If they passed muster, the urbane and happily-married photographer Rico would take them back to the studio he had created at the old Tingirana Motel and do a test shoot.
This tidbit of history probably doesn’t pass the woke test now, but it’s how I came to know and love what would become Café Le Monde, which sadly ended a near 40-year reign as Noosa’s favourite meeting place when it closed its doors at the end of April and was subsequently demolished, leaving only El Capitano (which used to be Berardos and before that Palmers, but that’s another story) in suspended animation above the construction site.
The splendid “pied noir”, North African Frenchman Luc Turschwell took over Damiani’s in 1986 and gave it the name everyone knows it by, creating what one-time restaurant doyenne Leonie Palmer described as “the benchmark for alfresco eating”.
Luc was (and remains well into his 80s) the consummate continental, sipping a Ricard at a sidewalk table while engrossed in a game of bridge or backgammon while never missing the arrival or departure of a pretty customer. But initially he and a small group of like minds had to fight the council tooth and nail to allow tables on the footpath, their ultimate victory creating a casual style for which Noosa would become justly famous.
Luc had itchy feet and soon moved on to his next culinary creation, and in 1993 Café Le Monde was purchased by Murray Charlton and Perry Taylor, whose family still owns the business today. Murray and Perry, a former airline pilot, were bareknuckle businessmen and developers of the old school, but they soon adapted to the coffee culture of Le Monde, which led to the establishment of the so-called “Table of Knowledge”, with their mover-and-shaker mates convening streetside most mornings to determine the future of the village over lattes.
Business guru Bob Ansett, who, well into his ninth decade, would run through the national park coastal track from his Sunshine Beach home, then stretch on the sand and swim a couple of laps of the beach before joining the gang at the table, called them “our coffee and nonsense sessions”. But when Ansett became one of the key players in the fight against Noosa Council’s amalgamation, a lot of the strategies were mapped out on coasters at the Table of Knowledge.
Café Le Monde became famous for its all-day grazing and late-night partying, but it also hosted great live music with local stars like Barry Charles and Doc Span and Ross Williams, and tie-in events with whatever was happening in town. In the early days of the Noosa Festival of Surfing, hairdresser Col Smyth would come down with his clippers and shave a star surfer bald for charity, as bank notes and beers flew every which way.
I think most long-term Noosa residents would have their own cherished memories of fun times at Le Monde through its many reinventions, but all things must pass, and on 30 April owner/manager Ryan Taylor posted on social media: “And that’s a wrap! The perfect send off! A massive thank-you, and a ‘see you soon’ to all the Le Monde regulars and customers over the years. We can’t wait to show you what we have planned – watch this space!”
Ryan wasn’t too forthcoming about what might come next (not to mention somewhat busy with the build) when I tackled him last week.
But he offered this: “The concept of Café Le Monde has not really changed since it started in 1986. In those days you could make a lot of mistakes and still be ahead. There was more margin and more wriggle room. Today, you need to micro-manage your costs on every level. There are also a lot more chain food concepts around town and fewer family-run, local operations. In this high-cost operating environment we need to keep the concepts fresh and evolving, and keep the interest alive. What hasn’t changed is customers wanting value for money and a good experience. We aim to do this in a new environment on an elevated level.
“The venue has been long overdue for a major refurbishment. We brought onboard architect Frank Macchia who has helped us create a new building design and landscape setting, adding to the new standard on Hastings Street that has been raised recently by the Netanya refurbishment. But who knows? Café Le Monde may yet still re-emerge!”
I asked Ryan what he’d miss about the old Le Monde: “The relationships. Over the years we have formed so many key relationships with good people who support the business and the local community. Regulars, staff, suppliers, contractors, unit owners, fellow traders, council staff … It’s these relationships that make you want to go to work each day. But that will continue in a new environment. We’ll be bringing some fresh concepts to Hastings Sreet, but most of our great staff are continuing with us, and we’re all looking forward to seeing all our regulars again.”
The Café Le Monde site is scheduled to reopen in August. Will it be at least a little bit familiar? We’ll have to wait and see.
