Across the Border: Kings Cross: Bars: The Bourbon

Kings Cross institution, The Bourbon, finally reopened last week after closing in February 2010 when a storm tore off its roof and caused water damage throughout the building.

That feels like so long ago and I, like many residents, have been patiently awaiting its return to the Kings Cross strip. 

It was always a great locals' pub, because you could sit outside on the street, people watch and chat to passersby.

The Sugar Mill hotel's outdoor seating fulfils some of that brief, looking out as it does on the colourful characters that hang out on the Springfield Avenue mall, but it doesn't have that beautiful sweeping curve where Macleay Street meets Darlinghurst Road.

And it doesn't have the view of the marvellous El Alamein Memorial Fountain.

The Bourbon has all that, and a rich history in the area, dating back to 1967 when it was christened The Bourbon and Beefsteak by owner, US Airforce veteran, Bernie Houghton.

The photograph above, by Paul Green (possibly this Paul Green?) is from the City of Sydney Archives and shows The Bourbon and Beefsteak in the late-1980s when it was still in the Bernie years with its Hollywood-style outdoor lighting and over-the-top interior with walls covered in memorabilia. 

That ghastly plane tree to the right of the picture hasn't changed a bit. 

But the Bourbon and Beefsteak did change when it was sold in 2005 and the new owner cleared the walls, gave the character-filled joint a stainless-steel makeover and shorted its name to The Bourbon.

I'm not going to cover the history of the drinking hole, because a proper historian, Paul Ham, wrote a great piece for The Monthly in April last year, which paints an evocative picture of the Bourbons and Beefsteak's colourful former life.

So after an absence of three years, I visited the new Bourbon last week, shortly after it reopened following a makeover by new owner Chris Cheung, whose hotel portfolio includes the Coogee Bay Hotel, Key Largo in Rushcutters Bay and Cruise at West Circular Quay.

The marketing campaign around the new venue is based on quotes by dead people and old people, such as Ludwig van Beethoven, above, who says "To play without passion is inexcusable".

Another quotes chef Alain Ducasse: "Desserts are like mistresses. They are bad for you. So if you are having one, you might as well have two."

I'm not sure what the quotes are all about, except perhaps they are alluding to The Bourbon's new focus, which is no longer $10 steaks and cheap beer for members, but live music and fancy food.

The absence of the cheap stuff is no great loss for me, because I no longer drink beer, but I was disappointed by the curious design of the outdoor area, which is rather claustrophobic with chunky tiled columns and large window panes obscuring the view of Macleay Street.

There was one good table with a view, but it was taken and so I had to sit and wait for my friend in a rather uncomfortable spot:

Just getting into the outdoor terraced area was an adventure that involved going up the steps at the new front door, passing a woman at a booking desk, walking round through the bar, past the indoor dining area, down some more stairs and then finally through a glass door.

 

There is also some banquette-style seating (above), lined with bookcases, which seemed at odds with an outdoor area.

It seems that inside is the place to be, but that's hard to take in Sydney when the weather is mostly sunny throughout the year and al fresco dining should be more common.

But to help encourage people indoors, the Bourbon has built a show kitchen where you can turn your head from the bar and watch chef James Metcalfe at work.

According to The Bourbon's new website, Metcalfe formerly worked for fine-diner Becasse, Etch in Surry Hills and burger joint Charlie and Co, so foodies will fancy a bit of name-dropping in that field. But I don't know if locals are going to be walking down the strip to have $22-plus mains that require a side of fries that cost $7 and a $6 salad. 

I know I couldn't. I pay too much rent to live here. And although I really wanted to stay and try the food - especially after seeing yummy-looking plates pass my table - I can't really afford to go to the local and spend that kind of money.

To survive the competition - and there's lots of it in Kings Cross - they will need to win as a destination venue, attracting tourists or people from outside the neighbourhood each night of the week.

My friend Jane Green and I enjoyed a bottle of the Argo Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ($32) from Orange, in the NSW Central West, and after being accosted by staff, who were friendly but helicoptered around the table, ordered some king fish sashimi for $12.

The plate looked lovely and was made up of four paper-thin slivers of fine fish, but I couldn't help but think of Brown Rice across the road, where $10 would get me eight nice, fat slices of salmon sashimi. 

The best thing about the chatty staff was extracting details.
According to the waiter, the second level of The Bourbon will open in six months with a bar, and the third level will be open next year, housing a restaurant.
Chris Cheung also owns the neighbouring old Swannies club, which closed when the club went into administration in May 2011, but that isn't scheduled to open until 2015.

Moving on, I always think bathrooms are a good way to judge a place and the ones in The Bourbon, down the back stairs, were clean and grand with pseudo-Dyson hand driers, where you dip your hands into the machine and water magically evaporates. But there was no soap left in the dispenser.

To encourage sociability between the guests, there's also this mixed-sex hand-washing fountain (above), where the soap dispensers were full.

So, it was a fine night because I had the dear Jane Green for company and we eventually got the table with the view that I wanted, but will I rush back?

Perhaps after three years my expectations were too high.

I would love to know if you have been and what you think.

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The Bourbon

22 Darlinghurst Road

Kings Cross NSW 2010

02 9035 8888

www.thebourbon.com.au

Darlinghurst Blog: Bars: Darlie Laundromatic

One of the worst things about my blog is that I am a crap snapper. During the day my photographs are fine, but at night: forget it. That is the reason why I often don't write posts about my evening adventures. But then I sometimes wind up at some curious or original establishment and I feel that I just have to share, so I snap away and then return home to discover that all the pictures are mostly black with blobs of colour. And this is one of those occasions (so, please, excuse my terrible snaps).

I was with my dear friend Ruby Molteno on Tuesday night. It was a wet evening in Sydney, the rain was insistent, but I hadn't seen Ruby in so long, apart from a brief snack-attack at the Third Village. First she went overseas and then she went to the north coast and now that she had returned again, it was time for a catch up. So for such a special reunion, we cowered under umbrellas and walked to the local laundromat.

The Darlie Laundromatic bar opened three weeks ago in a disused laundrette at the top of Palmer Street, near Oxford Street. It's one big, long room, with a communal table running down the middle and a couple of smaller tables at the back. There are plans to open up the rear courtyard and also utilise some of the floors in the building above. 

The only signs of the bar's former incarnation are a long row of water pipes with taps running along one wall, a laundry menu (above) and a small length of washing line, hung with freshly laundered aprons and tea-towels. 

According to its website, the Darlie Laundromatic is open from 11am to 11pm, from Tuesday to Saturday, but when we arrived just on 10pm, we were told they had already shut the bar. We lingered a bit to check out the menu and were then told by a barman that we could order a drink, as there were still a few people finishing their beers. Ruby was keen on a coffee, but the espresso machine had already been cleaned, so we consulted the drinks menu under the guidance of the friendly barwoman (above). 

The drinks menu features home made organic cordial, which can be ordered as a non-alcoholic beverage ($4) or with vodka and soda ($7.50). There are also the usual beers and ciders at the usual bar prices, as well as a short, well-priced wine menu. 

The food menu features gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian options and includes a grilled, organic minute-steak sandwich or ''grilled mushroom-steak'' on sourdough with truss tomato, zesty rocket caramelised onion and harissa aioli ($14/$13); a ploughman's platter with Afghan flat bread, vintage cheddar, dill pickles, hot sopressa, chili jam and quinoa tabouli ($15); and a potato, fennel and dill salad with smoked salmon ($14).

We had to go with the organic cordial, considering it's not something you see on the menu everywhere. The cordials are made on-site and I had the pear and maple cordial with vodka and soda, while Ruby went for the raspberry and ginger flavour.

It was a nice change from the usual vodka and tonic, vodka and OJ types of drinks and was pretty good for $7.50. We grabbed a seat at the long communal table and listened to the particularly good music - played on a turntable or record-player - that included PJ Harvey's Send His Love to Me, which Ruby and I are awfully fond of. We are also both fond of flowers, so were happy to discover a wonderfully scented bunch of early cheer in a skull vase on the table.

It was about 10.30pm and we were finishing our drinks when the music started lowering in volume and the lights in the room brightened. We took the hint and left. I love all these new bars that are popping up everywhere, it's just a shame their licences don't allow them to remain open longer. 

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Darlie Laundromatic

304 Palmer Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 8095 0129

www.darlielaundromatic.com

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Bars: Kings Cross Hotel

I used to walk straight by the Kings Cross Hotel without giving the pub a second glance. But now I linger and stare and spy and it's safe to say I have a massive crush on this building because for once it has been given a makeover that befits its grand presence on the streetscape of Kings Cross. Gone is the garishly ugly, suburban-club-style signage that appeared above its doors when it reopened following a $9 million overhaul in June 2008. Instead the only signage is the original grand lettering on the top of the building and rather than looking away, your eyes are drawn up by the plants that now decorate the hotel's numerous Juliet balconies. The building is alive again. When the hoardings came down and it reopened following this $20 million refurbishment, I couldn't wait to go inside . . .

The ground floor bar is just like a regular pub, with bar seating, club chairs and televisions mounted to the walls. It's cosy; not all that exciting, but is a vast improvement on its former stark style, which featured cold tiled floors and uncomfortable looking cafe-style seating.

But the first best part of the pub is the first floor: 

What could be more fabulous than spending the night drinking with the Coca-Cola sign for company. There's also ample opportunities for spying on people on the street. 

It's also a good place to eat as the kitchen is on the same floor. When I went with my friend on Saturday night I had a $12 steak and he had $16 nachos. The menu ranges in price from $8 for chips to $26 for an eye fillet with mash, spinach and pepper sauce. In between, there's about 16 other items including Tasmanian salmon with lemon mash, asparagus and tomato ($21) and a KX burger with chips ($16). On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the kitchen also offers $12 specials, which includes Chili Mussels and Fries. 

On the second floor is the FBi Social space, which is one of the rare intimate live music venues in Sydney. Gigs are organised by the independent Redfern-based radio station, so the music is likely to be very good. The Chaser comedy team also held a show in the space a couple of weeks ago and I think they have another one coming up.

In a couple of weeks, the third floor of the Kings Cross Hotel - the one directly above FBi Social - will open with a 70s themed FBi Social spillover lounge:

The space is fitted out with comfy-looking sofas, which will apparently help to absorb the sound of the bands playing on the floor below, as the music will be piped into the lounge. 

That beautiful wooden box (above) is one of the building's original elevator carriages and is apparently going to be used as a photography studio, where FBi Social punters can have their portraits taken. 

So how do I know about all these grand plans and dreams? Because when I returned to the hotel on Tuesday to take some better pictures, one of the lovely hotel people offered to take me on a tour of the building. Oh, grand! 

So they have friendly staff, who are also locals, which is a good sign. 

The charming young man also took me up to the fourth floor of the Kings Cross Hotel where a new bar, Feted Glory, (or was it Faded Glory?) is scheduled to open in two months.

I had actually peeked at the space while snooping around the building on Saturday night, but this time I was introduced to the designer, Brian P, and artist, Andrea Davies (below) who was busy at work painting murals on the walls:

The room is all Baroque Bacchanalian with warm tones, gilt furnishings and Rubenesque nudes peering down from the walls. Perhaps they found some of their furniture at Royalty Prussia?

I am sure Feted/Faded Glory will be the scene of many debaucherous parties, so long as it attracts the right crowd.

The next floor up, is the Level Five Rooftop, and the only way to get there is by taking one of two lifts from the ground floor. Don't hesitate: visit the rooftop as soon as you can, just so you can see the bloody marvellous view during the day:

And at night (with 311 Bus):

The view also looks west to the city:

While at night, the rooftop is lit up with dozens of fairy colourful lights:

But by far my favourite treat of the guided tour was seeing what's inside the tower. Ever since it reopened, I have been obsessing about the corner tower. At night I could see lights on inside and I desperately wanted to have a look. And as much as I want to show you the pictures I have taken, I am worried about ruining the surprise and mystery. Think: Arabian Nights; VIP.
But I can't resist showing you the tower's view:

And I love the way the Horizon always juts into frame:

Before my Tuesday tour I had spent the entire morning researching the history of the Kings Cross Hotel, so there was an added thrill in being led through the space with all the colourful hotel stories still fresh in my mind. It almost gave me goosebumps. The hotel's history is rich but I had to trawl through dozens of historical newspaper archives on the excellent Trove website to discover just the smallest jewels of information to piece together its past. 

It all begins back in the late 1800s when the James's Victoria Hotel stood on the site:

There are very few references to this hotel period in the archives. The picture above was taken in February 1911, just prior to its demolition. The building is obviously in the Victorian style, but I can't find the exact decade it was built. Based on other historical records of the day, I suspect it was built sometime in the 1880s. The site was owned by Mr R James and family. On the 20th of June, 1892, Mrs James placed a wanted advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald:

''A good general servant wanted at once, another kept, own family, only 1. Mrs James, Victoria Hotel, Kings Cross.''

The next mention of the James's Victoria Hotel was on Friday, March 6, 1914, when the Municipal Council of Sydney, who had resumed the land, published a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald inviting tenders for the lease of the site.

Under the 30-year lease conditions was a building covenant of 13,000 pounds, meaning potential lessees had to demolish the building and spend a minimum of this amount erecting a new hotel. 

The tender was won by Annie Mozzall (nee McCarter), from Kingsford, in Sydney's south, who had married her second husband, builder Thomas Richard Mozzall, in 1904. So technically the first licensee of the Kings Cross Hotel was a woman.

In May 1914, Ms Mozzall assigned all her rights under the agreement to Frederick James Kelly, who in turn gave the lease to Toohey's, who had agreed to then grant a sub-lease to Mr Kelly to be licensee of the new establishment.

Bizarrely, I can find no reference to exactly what year the Kings Cross Hotel was built and opened, but my guess is 1915-1916. I don't even think there is a date on the hotel's parapet. This photograph was taken in the 1930s:

The Federation Freestyle five-storey building was designed by Eric Ernest Lindsay Thompson, of Lindfield, in Sydney's north, and cost 13,500 Pounds to build. Thompson also designed the similar Macquarie Hotel on Wentworth Street on the edge of Surry Hills, colloquially known as The Mac Hotel. 

Archival architectural illustrations by Thompson show that alterations to the ground floor of the Kings Cross Hotel were approved by the council in August 1917, but it is unclear what exact changes were made.

That same year in November, licensee Mr Kelly and his wife Catherine, were sued by Walter Avery, of 454 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, for alleged negligence in the District Court. Avery wanted 100 pounds compensation after claiming the Kellys's ''so insecurely and improperly fixed a sign board on the hotel premises that it fell and struck the plaintiff who was passing by.'' 

Unfortunately the Sydney Morning Herald's court reporter failed to follow up the case and write about the judgement.

While Toohey's retained ownership of the site for 30 years, the sub-licence changed hands countless times during that period. For history's sake here is a list of licensees, based on details from the Metropolitan Licence Court:

Mostyn Molony  - unknown to May 1923

William Thompson - May 1923 to August 1925

Alfred Monmus - August 1925 to April 1927

Lena Jane Monmus (executrix of the late Alfred's will) - April 1927 to unknown

William Thompson - unknown to February 1933

Arthur Horsman - February 1933 to August 1933

Reginald Gordon Rickard - August 1933 to March 1936

Frederick Smith - March 1936 to unknown

Ethel May Tinker - unknown to September 1938

Martha Jane Doyle - September 1938 to unknown

John Elwyn Doyle - unknown to October 1939

Frank Fitzpatrick Johnson - October 1939 to unknown

John J Trouville - unknown to December 1940

Thomas Lawrence O'Toole - December 1940 to unknown

Yes, I admit, there is a lot of unknowns. Licensee Mostyn Molony took Toohey's to the High Court of Australia in April, 1932, trying to claim back a compensation fee he had paid to the Liquor Board, which he later felt he shouldn't have been liable for as sub-licensee. Again the final judgement in that case was not reported.  

In The Sydney Morning Herald's January 4 1933 edition, there appeared under the headline ''Theft of Mug'' the sad story of James Henry Hassard, aged 19, who was charged at the Central Police Court with stealing a beer mug, valued at ninepence, from the Kings Cross Hotel. 

When asked by the prosecutor Mr MacDougal SM, why on earth he did such a thing, Hassard replied: ''I was under the influence of liquor.''

Mr MacDougal SM responded with: ''You have no right to be at your age, it is like your impudence to say so. You ought to be smacked.''

Poor young, drunken Hassard was fined 1 Pound, 10 Shillings or three days imprisonment with hard labour. It is not known if he was also smacked for good measure.

Although the above photograph would suggest otherwise, by 1936 - the year before this picture was taken - traffic around Kings Cross was proving a problem and a danger for pedestrians. In October, 1936, Linda Prince of Potts Point, wrote a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald proposing the demolition of the Kings Cross Hotel as a way to ease traffic. The removal of the hotel, she claimed, ''would give an uninterrupted view for traffic coming from the city, would eliminate the two dangerous curves, and form almost a square at the section in Bayswater Road, instead of the bottle-neck now existing.''

While Ms Prince's frightening proposal was never taken up, it wasn't the last time the idea would emerge.

But until then Toohey's faced other problems. Toohey's lease was due to end on June 13, 1944 and in March of that year, the Finance Committee of the then City Council called for tenders for the new lease.

Toohey's had been paying 1500 Pounds a year plus rates, taxes and insurance and they again applied for a new lease, but an objection was raised in the Legislative Assembly about whether it was within the law for Toohey's to hold a liquor licence for more than one establishment. The lease was deferred for two years but in February 1946, the City Council accepted Toohey's tender to lease the hotel for another ten years at 181 Pounds, 10 Shillings a week - the highest tender on offer.

But again the lease hit difficulties when the Federal Government intervened, for the most remarkable of reasons:

''The Delegate to the Treasurer has informed the council that the proposed rent is too high and that a fair rent is 123 Pounds a week,'' the Sydney Morning Herald reported in September 1946.

''The present rate is 93 Pounds a week plus rates, taxes and insurance.

''Alderman Harding said that since calling for tenders the council had adopted the Kings Cross Traffic Circus Scheme, which would involve the demolition of the Kings Cross Hotel.''

So the demolition scheme was back on the agenda with the council's plans to create a circuit at the junction of William and Victoria streets to allow for a smoother flow of traffic.

The hotel was only saved by the wrecking ball because of money: the proposed circus would cost 492,150 Pounds, which was far too expensive for the council. And so the hotel remained.

I'm not sure what kind of life the hotel had during the 1950s to the 1980s. There are rumours it was once run as a classy bordello by a woman called Kitty Kelly, who was a friend of the famed dominatrix, Madame Lash.

At some point, probably during the heritage-green 1980s, it was painted in this particularly fast-dating shade. In the late 1980s, the hotel was owned by Steve Larkin's Rofalo company and operated under the moniker, Oz Rock Cafe. Dr Larkin sold the hotel to Lady Mary Fairfax's Amalgamated Hotels in 1992 for $3.3 million. 

I remember visiting the hotel soon after when there were nightclubs playing retro music operating on the upper levels. It was fairly run down by that stage and continued to be unloved for the next decade, failing to meet safety conditions, until it was purchased by Brian Perry's company, Repeller Nominees, in 2002 for $8.5 million. 

The hotel underwent a $4 million refurbishment to meet safety requirements the following year but it was becoming clear the building needed more than a cosmetic makeover, it needed major surgery.

Getting the development application approved through the City of Sydney council wasn't so easy however, and Nicholas Back Architects fought a three-year battle in the Land and Environment Court to gain approval for the glass frontage and other amendments, as well as the 24-hour, seven day a week trading hours. 

Interestingly the hotel is not listed on any heritage register, but a heritage impact statement tendered to the court did note its landmark status in Kings Cross and is architectural significance. 

In 2006 the hotel shut its doors and under the passionate direction of heritage-lover Perry, the building was brought back to life. Officially Perry dropped $9 million on the redevelopment, but I suspect it was much more. Nicholas Back Architects converted the back of the hotel into apartments and workers laboriously stripped the hotel facade of the green paint using an environmentally friendly soy-bean paste. The building was gutted and restored to its former glory. 

The only problem when it reopened in June 2008, was that there seemed to be no money left for clever marketing. And then, of course, there was that awful signage above the front doors as well as the unwelcoming, seemingly sterile foyer-style ground floor bar. 

I did a straw poll among my Kings Cross friends last week and none had been to the Kings Cross Hotel after it reopened in 2008 - despite the fact they are all enthusiastic drinkers and lovers of the neighbourhood. 

The hotel stayed open for about a year, until it was sold, in October 2009, to Top Ryde Nominees, a company owned by pub king, Bruce Solomon.

Solomon is a director of Solotel, a hospitality group that runs 18 drinking holes across Sydney, including the Darlo Bar, the Green Park, The Clock in Surry Hills, Newtown's Courthouse Hotel, The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay, The Paddington Inn and the Opera Bar.

So it seems the Solomon Group has more than enough experience and expertise to make the Kings Cross Hotel a success. I would just hope that they make sure to market the place to locals. A pub is nothing without locals. Perhaps they could introduce a badge for people in the 2010 and 2011 postcodes so that we can buy $3 schooners. The old, storm-damaged Bourbon did this, and they had a loyal following.

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ARCHIVE PICTURE SOURCES: Trove, City of Sydney Archives.

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Kings Cross Hotel

248 William Street

Kings Cross NSW 2011

02 9331 9900

http://www.kingscrosshotel.com.au/

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Hours:

Sunday to Thursday - midday to 3am

Friday to Saturday - midday to 6am