Moustakis Bros. Ice cream and Confectionery

History

Located on 220 Essex Street, Salem MA, Moustakis Bros. opened its doors in 1910. In that same year, Moustakis opened another shop on 501 Congress street, Portland ME, which, that area is now known as "Old Orchard Beach."

Constantine Moustakis and his five brothers immigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts from Greece in 1897. Upon arriving they worked in mills. This was common. Between 1890 and 1924 there was a huge wave of Greek immigrants coming to cities of Lowell, Lynn, Boston, Haverhill, Peabody, and Salem. Peabody being the highest in Greek residents with 2,200 and Salem having 800. A majority of these Greek Immigrants came to the United States to find work to send back to their families in Greece. Others, simply, wanted a better life.

Once the five brothers saved up, they opened “Moustakis Bros.” According to John Moustakis, who is one of the children of the owners, it was the most popular confectionary and ice cream shop, hence the nickname that was given, “The Palace of Sweets.” Moustakis remembers, while working there as a teen (in both locations. He would he would have to take the train!), the floods of people pouring in, the tables made of black marble, and the counters that his uncles tended was made of black onyx.

Moustakis stated that both locations of Moustakis closed in the 1960's due to the retirement of the brothers and John and his cousins not wanting to take over the family business.

The menu is small in size, measuring about 6 inches in height and 4 ½ inches in width. With a baby blue cover protecting the contents in the inside. It has the addresses to both their locations on the front cover. At first look at the menu looks as though it would be a restaurant that contained many types of New England dishes. Upon opening it, it is contained in ice cream dishes, drinks that you would associate with a bakery. For example, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. On the back of the menu, it has a description of “Cream Caramels” and “Mail Orders.” The prices range from 15 cents to $1.00. Based on the prices, it is assumed that this menu was from around 1920.

Structure of The Menu

The items in the menu are categorized by different types of ice cream and toppings. Categories include (in order):

Luncheonette
Sandwiches
Special
Hot Drinks
Ice creams
College Ices
Ice Cream with nuts
Ice Cream Sodas
Special Drinks
Special Sundaes

In these categories for the ice cream, some of them have fancy names, for example, “Sultana Harlequin” under the category “Special Sundaes”, "Egg Phosphate", "Portland High", "Harvard", and "Liberty Sundae", just to name a few. A lot of these names were unique and made just for Moustakis.

The menu is unique as ice cream and confectionery shops do not have physical copies of their menus and many of them do not have that many options.