Collage

This collaged panel once hung in Wellington’s Evergreen Coffee Lounge in Vivian Street. 

It is part of a collection of panels and other items that relate to the life of Chrissy Witoko, the  Evergreen Coffee Lounge, and the communities of people who congregated in the cafés and night clubs around Cuba and Vivian streets between about 1970 – 2002.

Each panel includes a combination of photographs featuring people that Chrissy associated with, news or magazine clippings, business cards and other ephemera.

This panel may have been hung when the café opened in 1984, but it includes images that date back to the 1960s and 1970s including photos of other Wellington cafés such as the Sunset Strip. The cave-like décor belongs to a cafe first named Alibaba's in the 1960s, and then The Cave, 1960s – 1978.

In the 1960s and 1970s alcohol was served secretly and bottles of Scotch were kept in hidden compartments in the walls. DJs played disco music late into the night, and Japanese seamen were regular customers.

Some of the people featured in this panel are:
Sue Timbs, Rikki Love, Rangi Carrol, Chrissy Witoko, Gypsy, Jeanette, Dion Kerehoma, Millie Witoko (Chrissy's mother), Paku, Donelle, Laine Edwards, Chocolate Patricia Lamb, Doug Timbs, Virginia, Cherie Skipper, Tia June, Lynette, Ella Wilson, Gaynor Hawkins, Geraldine, Stanley, Flea, Ella Wilson, Sharelle Eynon, Robby, Andrew Manuel, Michelle, Celina, Donna and Frank Lund.

Te Papa is working in collaboration with LGBTI communities and individuals to discover the histories represented in the panels. If you have any information you would like to share in relation to this panel please contact a history curator at Te Papa on +64 (0)4 381 7000.