The Strand Dee Why c 1920 showing the Guy & Bailey Store. Source: State Library of NSW.
The corner of Howard Avenue and The Strand, Dee Why has been home to two well- known Northern Beaches businesses. The Guy and Bailey General Store from c1916 until c1970, and currently Stella Blu Italian Restaurant, which was established in 1977.
Guy and Bailey Store
Guy and Bailey Store, one of the original shops in Dee Why, was built well before the Pittwater Road shopping area was developed. James and Mary Bailey, their daughter, Gladys and son-in-law Tom Guy ran the store.
James and Mary Bailey initially built a holiday cottage in Oakes Avenue Dee Why during World War 1. With their four daughters and three sons, they regularly spent weekends and holidays at their seaside cottage, travelling from their Willoughby home by horse and sulky.
Around 1916 they leased the land on the corner of Howard Avenue and The Strand. They erected a shed with an awning, where they sold sweets and boiling water to picnickers, and by 1920, James, a carpenter, constructed a small corner store with an attached residence to house the family.
Dee Why was then developing into a weekend holiday destination, as many small holiday cottages spread across the area. Tom Guy delivered groceries in cane baskets to residents. The store hired swimming costumes to visitors and provided trays of afternoon tea and boiling water in billy cans, to take to the beach.
The store became a sort of supermarket, selling everything in demand except fruit and vegetables, which Frank Corkery sold from his store on the opposite corner.
When the tram came to Dee Why in 1912, it did not go via the beach but stopped at Pittwater Road. Tom Guy bought a T Model Ford bus and with his brother, Trevor, established a bus service, to ferry people from Pittwater Road, to Dee Why Beach. On Sundays, a special trip returned weekenders to Manly Wharf. A roadside, hand operated petrol bowser was installed in Howard Avenue to service the buses.
In April 1920, Tom and Gladys Guy purchased the land on which their store stood. This was Lot 10 in Deposited Plan 6953.
In 1925 the Guys increased the building’s size to accommodate holiday flats, a restaurant and a milk bar. For some time it was the only shop in Dee Why to provide meals, which were served on starched white tablecloths. The shop refrigerator was a marvellous improvement on the ice chest.
During World War II, troops stationed at nearby Brookvale Oval often ran to Dee Why pool for a pre-breakfast swim, stopping by at the store for refreshments on their way.
On Tom’s death in 1953, their daughter Gwen Jack became the owner. She leased the premises to grocers, Cecil and Ronald Hutchings. The building later became a Pizzeria, but was, sadly, burnt down around 1975.
Stella Blu
The vacant land came to the attention of Umberto and Stella Russo. Umberto had recently opened his own real estate business in Brookvale but it was Stella who convinced her husband to buy the land, which they did in 1977.
Umberto and Stella, both from the same village, Gizzeria in Italy, met and married in Sydney in 1966. Stella’s family had settled in Narraweena while Umberto’s were in Green Street Brookvale.
On the Dee Why site they built a couple of shops with a residence above where they lived. The corner shop they ran as a cafe called Donna Stella, where Stella made delicious sauces for many of the dishes.
They rented out the adjoining shop, which was run as a pin ball parlour and billiard room for many years, later becoming a pizzeria.
When their son Victor took over the restaurant, he renamed it Stella Blu and enlarged the restaurant to include both shops
Stella Blu remains a popular restaurant today. The business has been sold but the Russo family still own the land.
This article was created by Northern Beaches Council Library Local Studies: For enquiries, please contact the Northern Beaches Library Local Studies Team at LocalHistory@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au or visit History Hub.