Across the Border: Kings Cross: Retailers: The Boomerang School

I was walking home from work yesterday up William Street and as I always do, glanced in the windows of The Boomerang School.

I have long been fascinated by this little shop with its walls lined with boomerangs and Aboriginal art on canvas, so it was sad to see 'closing down' signs in the windows.

Normally there's just a sign in the window advertising free 'fun for the whole family' boomerang throwing lessons.

Boomerangs must be the most widely known Indigenous hunting tool, most likely because children love the idea of throwing something that spins around and returns, while tourists to Australia often buy boomerangs as a souvenir of their travels.

And that's probably why this shop sprang up 50 years ago. Yep, 50 years. I only know this because as I stopped to look at the signs, the owner was locking up the front door and so we had a quick chat.

Frank, above, is the son-in-law of the original owner Duncan MacLennan, who opened The Boomerang School in the 1960s.

Duncan still runs the school with his daughter Belinda and Frank, but business has been tough in recent years. 

Frank said that because most of the big hotels in the area have closed in the past decade or so (the Rex, Top of the Town, Sebel Town House and Hyatt Kingsgate come to mind) there aren't so many tourists seeking boomerang lessons or souvenirs.

And the backpackers, he said, prefer to spend their money on other things.

Frank said they'll make a final decision in the next three weeks on whether to shut the shop.

The Boomerang School in 1975, courtesy City of Sydney Archives. Note Carroll's Hardware, which just moved to new premises on William Street, was once right next door.

I wish now I had written about The Boomerang School earlier and perhaps encouraged people to visit or take part in one of their free boomerang throwing lessons, which are held at Rushcutters Bay Park every Tuesday.

It's not just sad that this family will be closing shop after five decades in business, it's also sad for the area, which will lose such a unique business. And I dread to think what could replace it. Kebab shop? Convenience store? 

Anyway, if you have been a silent and secret admirer like me, why not go into the shop and say hello or buy one of their boomerangs, which are all made in Australia by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

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The Boomerang School

224a William Street

Kings Cross NSW 2010

02 9358 2370

www.boomerangschool.com.au

Darlinghurst Blog: Past and Present: Higgs Corner

So the Frenchman never sent me any more pix as promised (see previous post), and I don't write or speak his language so I can't really blame him. 

But never mind, because this major crossroad of Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Street - which his Papa had photographed in the 1960s - had already been on my radar, specifically the corner of William Street and Darlinghurst Road (pictured above in 1936).

Back in the early 20th century it was known as Higgs Corner (pictured above in 1916). It was called this because the building was once home to A.A. Higgs, a bootmaker who specialised in surgical shoes and "repairs by craftsmen skilled in the art". 

I guess Higgs was the early 1900s version of the Surry Hills Perkal Bros who were profiled in yesterday's Good Weekend in The Sydney Morning Herald.

In September 1916 Flora Helena Mann and Daniel Spillane, executors for the will of Esmay Farrell sued the Municipal Council of Sydney for compensation for the land at Higgs Corner.

The property had been resumed by the council for the widening of William Street at a cost of 8,800 Pounds. But Mann and Spillane wanted 18,000 Pounds. 

(There's not much talk about Esmay Farrell in the archives, except for her estate, because she apparently owned the York Hotel in Central Sydney. Was she a descendant of the Farrell of Farrell Street? A relative of Bumper Farrell? I'm afraid I can't shed any light with my research budget.)

In case you are interested, the photograph above from the City of Sydney Archives, was taken in March 1918, probably just before the building was demolished.

Here's another view (above) from the archives of 1918, from the perspective of Darlinghurst Fire Station. As you can see Mr Higgs is having a sale, no doubt because his building is about to be demolished.

As an aside, Ms Farrell's estate also had an address known as 1A Craigend Street, which was declared, in April 1939, a "common gaming house". Legal action was taken against the tenant, Frank Benjamin.

The picture at the top of this post shows what the corner looked like in the 1930s, after Higgs Corner was demolished, but William Street was widened or realigned again in the 1970s for the Kings Cross Tunnel, so the building pictured above (from City Archives) now marked the corner. 

In the 1980s the building was home to Michelangelo's (above, from City Archives), an Italian cafe with gelato, pasta and espresso coffee. 

The cafe stayed for many years and was still there in the late 1990s as far as I can recall. 

Do you remember the old news stands, like the one above? 

I vividly remember the one at Taylor Square and frequented it to buy American Vogue and The Face magazine. 

In recent times Higgs Corner has been home to a series of not so successful bars, such as Firebar, shown above. 

At the moment Higgs Corner is home to a bar awkwardly named Awkward. 

It seems to be going OK, despite the fact they have strange displays in which they place a live model dressed in colourful clothing in the Darlinghurst Road window on random evenings. 

Not sure what that's about, but the location looks like a good place to have a coffee on a sunny day.

SOURCES:

City of Sydney Archives

Trove

Darlinghurst Blog: Past and Present: French Photographie

I was contacted last week by a Frenchman Marc Coetmellec who emailed me three photographs his father had taken of Darlinghurst in the 1960s. They have never been published before, so I am very pleased that Marc sent them to me to include on my petite blogette. The photographie is fantastique.

This first one, looking down William Street, shows the original Bar Coluzzi on the left. 

There is a similar photograph in the City of Sydney Archives, which shows the cafe proprietor standing at its doorstep. 

The scene today is quite different as the road was realigned in the 1970s for the Kings Cross Tunnel, Sydney's first road tunnel according to this website.

Marc's father, Jean-Yves Coetmellec, visited Australia frequently in the 1960s as a merchant seaman on board the Tahitien (do click on the link to see a photograph of this lovely ship). 

Jean-Yves was a mecanicien, or mechanic, with the French maritime company Messageries Maritimes (again, click on the link to see the beautiful old shipping posters).

The Tahitien would have docked at Woolloomooloo so Jean-Yves would have been well placed to explore the local area, including Darlinghurst and Kings Cross. I wonder what the Frenchman thought of Sydney in the 1960s. And would he be interested to see what the area in these photographs looks like today:

Marc said he had many more photographs of Sydney taken by his father and he promises to email them to me. I can't wait to see them and will publish them here as soon as I can.

Darlinghurst Blog: Retailers: Carroll's Hardware

One of my earliest childhood memories is of visiting a hardware shop with my father.

I must have been about four or five and I remember wandering off on my own and exploring the aisles with a sense of wonder. 

There was the smell, first of all, a kind of pungent metalicky scent. 

And then there were all the little plastic compartments filled with the most curious screws and nails and round metal bits, which you could purchase individually for about 10 cents each. 

I vividly remember picking out some screw - perhaps a nut with a bolt - and asking my father to buy it for me.

I was always wanting things. And he often said no. 

This time he probably said no, too, but even if I wasn't allowed to take home that nut and bolt, my fascination with hardware shops, and all that they contained, remained.

So when I had to buy some spack-filler this week (mishap with screw while trying to hang a lighting fixture), I became mildly interested by the task. 

And the closest hardware shop to home is Carroll's Hardware on William Street; a place I had never been but was looking forward to visiting. 

The shop is jam-packed with stuff: masking tapes, rulers, staple-guns, paint, hammers, screw-drivers, weird hooky things, weird plastic things, buckets, shower curtains, hoses; everything you could imagine and more: a pink manicure kit. 

I wished to roam the aisles undisturbed but was immediately accosted by the friendly shopkeeper (Mr Carroll?) who quickly led me to the spack section. 

After I selected my spack, I left him and moved on around the shop, looking for interesting things.

There were aisles to explore and even a mysterious upstairs section stocking wood and building supplies.

 

There were reels of chains and ropes in various colours, and an entire aisle devoted to gardening products (I searched in vain for the clay balls I need to create a humidity tray for my new "orchid farm".)

But the best bit was when I went to the counter and started chatting with Mr Carroll (?). 

Can you find him in this picture:

The Carroll family have been operating a hardware shop on William Street since 1923.

Their first shop was on the northern side of William Street, backing on to Judge Lane, between Dowling and Forbes streets; today consumed by No Birds car rental.

They remained at that location for 49 years.

This picture from the City of Sydney Archives (above) was taken in 1954, when trams scuttled along William Street on their way to the city centre. How lovely and colourful and quiet do they appear when compared to the buses that now storm down this path. 

That chap, crossing the street in the brown trench coat, may have just visited Carroll's Hardware and it's highly possible he has a nut and bolt, or a screw-driver, in his pocket.

By 1972, there were no more trams on William Street, and that year Carroll's Hardware moved to a building on the corner of William and Bourke streets, on the left in the photograph above, just where the van is pulling out.

They stayed there for 25 years - until 1997 - before moving to their present location at 163-165 William Street.

But now, as they are about to celebrate their 90th years in business, they are scheduled to move into larger premises, just down the road in the former Scooterino site at 121-129 William Street.

Mr Carroll (?) said he hoped to be open there by April, but as you can see from my photographs, there is a hell of a lot of stock to move, and then there is all the shop fittings. 

It's not a job I covet.

 But I hope, when he moves in to the new place, they have a big opening party - with some politician or someone to cut the ribbon - and a sausage sizzle in Barnett Lane to celebrate a near century on William Street.

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Carroll's Hardware

163-165 William Street

soon to be: 121-129 William Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9331 5555

Darlinghurst Blog: Past and Present: Corner of William Street and Kirketon Road

The corner of Kirketon Road and William Street is a rather bland, nondescript junction these days, not conducive to lingering. 

But back in the 1950s it was a bustling corner and home to the original Bar Coluzzi:

This photograph, from the City of Sydney Archives, was taken in 1957 and shows Luigi Coluzzi standing in front of his eponymous cafe. Inside the darkened doorway sits Eleni Coluzzi. 

I still find it hard to believe it is the same location in the contemporary photograph, but according to the archives, the photographer is standing on the corner Kirketon Road, looking down to Rosebank Street. 

I again pulled out the old City Building Surveyor's maps to see what the corner once looked like from a geographical perspective, but the building must have been demolished prior to the building survey, as there is no trace of this row of shops, which also includes a laundrette, a bird shop and chemist. 

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SOURCE: City of Sydney Archives

And here's a glimpse of Bar Coluzzi as it is today:

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Bar Coluzzi

322 Victoria Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9380 5420

Darlinghurst Blog: Retailers: Royalty Prussia Clearance Sale

Dreams of drinking cappuccinos from kitschy china cups with my pal Ruby Molteno at the Royalty Prussia Cafe faded last week when signs appeared on the window announcing the bling furniture emporium was having a clearance sale - was it closing down? 

You may recall my blog post from April where I was brimming with excitement about the impending opening of the Royalty Prussia in-house cafe, which was advertised on its doors:

Well, the cafe never opened and those signs have now been pulled down:

And new ones appeared last week advertising a Clearance Sale in which there are "Millions of $$$ off!" and ''Everything Must Go''. Another sign advises to "Ask For Full Package".

I have learned that the shop is not closing down, just clearing its stock. But the question still remains: was Royalty Prussia ever open? I have walked past the shop in the Chard building on William Street hundreds of time and not once was the door open or anybody inside. 

So I wonder if they will be able to sell all the stock?

The furniture is certainly priced to clear. Take for instance this purple velvet chaise longue (below), which is reduced from $27,000 to $6,500. A saving of 70 per cent!

Or how about this mirrored cabinet, which was once $11,700 and is now $3500: 

I think the only thing Royalty Prussia needs to shift all this furniture is the British chap from the dollar-shop on the Darlinghurst Road strip in Kings Cross who, armed with his thick Pommie accent and a microphone has made a killing in the discount industry in Sydney for about 20 years.

Every time I go by, I walk away with his voice echoing in my head: "Toothbrushes. $2. Mens's socks. Two for $2. Ladies's perfumes. Only $15. Everything must go."

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Food: Green Lizard Vegan and Fusion Raw Food Cafe

I've been feeling a little bit blah recently and I am going to blame the weather and the moon. So while looking for a quick fix, I decided to try out the newish Green Lizard Vegan and Fusion Raw Food Cafe on William Street. The cafe has been open since about September last year and specialises in raw food that is free of meat, dairy, seafood, wheat, gluten and sugar.

The tiny restaurant is tucked away in a little green-painted space just a stone's throw from the Coca-Cola sign, which is kind of ironic considering chef John Lam's strict views on food and what should and should not be consumed. Lam believes wheat germ is incredibly bad for you - just imagine what he thinks of Coke. I actually don't mind drinking Coca-Cola on a summer day, but it has to be served in a glass with ice, lemon and a straw. And while I have a fairly healthy and balanced diet, I don't subscribe to the idea of banning certain foods from my life.

On the weekday when I visited for lunch there was no one else in the cafe, just a few copies of Vegan Voice to look at.

The menu features such yummy-sounding entrees as ''Pancakes'', which here translates to fresh blueberries on roasted rice paper with a pinch of paprika, lemon juice and fresh mint ($8), as well as Rice Paper Rolls with carrot, cucumber and fresh herbs ($8). Mains include Cooked Dishes and Raw Dishes, which range in price from $12 to $15. 

The cooked section features Organic Mung Bean Fettucini (high in protein, low in carbs) with steamed vegetables and grilled tofu ($15), while the raw dishes include  "Spaghetti" made with zucchini shreds served with soaked cashew and basil tomato and herb sauce ($15) and ''Pizza'': a seaweed base crust topped with basil, tomatoes, olives, nut cheese and button mushrooms ($15). There's also a raw ''Hamburger'', made from vegetables, sprouts and soaked nuts with herbs, served with tomato sauce and salad ($15).

I really had no idea what to order and ended up having the Mung Bean Fettucine:

I can't say I was that impressed by the look of the dish as it seemed the pasta had not been strained of the cooking water properly and there was lots of watery liquid running around on the plate. Texture was also a problem; it was a bit sloppy tasting; there was no crunch and no punchy flavour. It would have been helped along in the flavour stakes with a little sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top, but unfortunately dairy is on the banned list. 

I respect what Lam is trying to do and I hope he succeeds but I don't think he needs to bother calling things Spaghetti, Pizza and Hamburgers when they clearly aren't. Why not just use the selective ingredients and make-up dishes with their own names, rather than trying to mimic the look of food that is on the banned list? Still he has loads of fans on his Facebook page who seem to return for his salads and smoothies, so he must be doing something right for many people, maybe just not for me. 

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Green Lizard Vegan and Fusion Raw Food Cafe

20/230 William Street

Kings Cross NSW 2010

0402 918 653

Green Lizard Facebook Page