Dida’s Wine Lounge is located on the spot where it all started for Glengarry back in the 1940s.
As Ponsonby News celebrates another milestone, it seems only fitting to share a little history. The very first edition of Ponsonby News featured an advertisement promoting the very site that Dida’s sits on today.
Dida is Croatian for grandfather, and as Jak Jakicevich recalls it, "in the early 1920s when my grandfather stepped off the gangway in Auckland, he had a handful of change in his pocket and very little else to call his own. His English was rudimentary, and he had only a passing knowledge of the country that was to shape the rest of his life."
Josef Jakicevich arrived in New Zealand in 1920 and for several years he worked as a stonemason in Northland and Auckland, earning a reputation as a first-class tradesman. After seven years, Josef was joined by Marcia Colic. They married and in 1929 had their first son Anthony (Tony) followed by daughter Nada.
By 1940 Josef had saved enough money to purchase ten acres in Glengarry Road, Oratia, West Auckland. 1940 turned out to be a momentous year for the Jakicevich family. A third child, Peter, was born and Josef planted a vineyard, setting the foundation for a thriving and enduring family business.
From 1940 to 1960 the attitudes prevailing in New Zealand in the post war era were remarkably restrictive and discouraging for the local wine industry, but change was on the way. In 1948 the Government created wine reseller licences in an effort to assist local winemakers.
Josef was quick to see the potential and was granted one of the first two licences issued in Auckland, for the green grocery he had opened on the corner of Jervois Road and Blake Street. It’s on that site that Dida’s Wine Lounge proudly sits today.
Congratulations Ponsonby News! The team at Dida’s look forward to sharing a glass with you and all our local loyal customers as soon as we can. Until then, stay safe everyone.
DIDA’S WINE LOUNGE, 60 Jervois Road, T: 09 376 2813, www.didaswinelounge.co.nz
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Published 1 October 2021