As they have for centuries, churches served then and now as the center of Greek faith and culture. They continue to offer ancient liturgies, Greek language schools, Byzantine music and traditional dance, community festivals and Easter picnics featuring signature red eggs.
"The church is what holds us together," said Faye Demetriou, a longtime St. Sophia member.
But, as with other ethnic communities, the inexorable forces of acculturation are creating what Bakas calls a "fusion identity." Many younger Greek Americans have intermarried and slowly lost their ancestral language and some old-country customs.
Alex Pappas, grandson of a Greek immigrant and owner of the California Produce company, still speaks Greek and is involved in the church, but said he eats more hamburgers than lamb and married a Latina who is Roman Catholic.
"It's splintering now," Pappas said of the old community. "It happens with all nationalities. It's America. That's the way we are."
The church has adapted to those changes. Traditional all-Greek liturgies have given way to some English, although St. Sophia and many other churches still offer weekend Greek language schools.
Bakas has reached out to converts, proclaiming that one need not be ethnically Greek to embrace the culture's traditional Hellenic values of "light, life, beauty and at its core is Christ." His congregation includes African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos.
Theodosia Roussos, a 19-year-old UCLA student studying music and biology, said many of her non-Greek friends are intrigued by her culture, promoted in such hit films as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." She has kept ties to her ancestry by attending a two-week student summer camp in Greece, joining a Greek club at school and singing in the church choir.
"It's chic to be Greek," Roussos said. "Greek culture is big and joyful."
The story of Tony Mellos, a 67-year-old retired business owner from Pacific Palisades, reflects the past and present, the changes and continuity in Greek America. His great-uncle, Gust Picoulas, landed on Ellis Island in 1903 and made his way to Los Angeles two years later. He became a peanut wholesaler, investing in roasting equipment to supply the "Greek Fleet" of street pushcart operators peddling peanuts downtown, Mellos said.
