In 1981, after many of the live-music bars in Plaka, Athens, were shut down, two professional musicians, Spiros Podaras and Christos Tolos, decided to open Cafe Santan, a live rock music bar in Volos – a sleepy provincial town – that soon became a place of artistic expression for restless and free-spirited people and changed the way of life of the town’s youth, becoming a legendary landmark. For 28 years, many famous Greek and foreign artists and bands performed live at the Cafe Santan. In 2009, the building that housed Cafe Santan was reclaimed by the owner for private use and its demolition was scheduled. Cafe Santan’s last nights as a live-music bar were full of live music sessions, gatherings of old regulars and new visitors, memories and rock ’n’ roll stories
