Across the Border: Art and Culture: Kings Cross Festival 2012 Part II

With all the bad press the neighbourhood has been receiving this year, it was good to see residents and shopkeepers reclaiming the streets last week. 

We sometimes stay indoors at night, away from the rowdy crowds, or we rush down the strip in a hurry, careful to avoid stepping on a discarded chicken bone, triangle of greasy pizza or splatter of vomit. 

But last Wednesday morning, the reclamation began in the normally grim ticketing area of Kings Cross Train Station, when a string trio marked the beginning of the Kings Cross Festival 2012.

Their music was a magical way to start the day, and I would have lingered, too, if I didn't have to go to work. That night, however, I was lucky enough to attend the festival launch party at the Mercure Hotel's Dandelion Bar.

It was a real squeeze of locals, politicians and performers, and we were kept entertained by a roving magician, live music and a lot of nice drinks. The magician, below, did some amazing card tricks, including one involving a lighter that burnt his fingers in the shape of the six of spades (the card I had selected). I still don't know how the magician did it. A friend of mine had a theory, but I refused to listen.

Another friend who arrived later said it was fantastic to walk along the street and hear the music, chatter and laughter of the party above. And everyone behaved themselves mostly. We didn't have to watch where we stepped.

Performer Vashti Hughes, from the hit-show Mum's In, was also there and I insisted on taking her picture with the Kings Cross Hotel behind her, because that's where her show is now on (5pm every Sunday!). She may not look too happy about being snapped, but trust me, it was all AOK. I think she had just taken a sip of beer. 

The festival's artistic director Ignatius Jones, above, said a few words about Kings Cross, the most memorable being how the area is known as an 'entertainment precinct' and yet there is no entertainment, unless you want to get shit-faced or go to a blokey strip club. The festival was all about bringing entertainment back to the Cross, he said. 

But the speech-ette I liked the most was by the chairman of the Potts Point Partnership, Adrian Bartels (above), who was the driving force behind securing funding for the festival from the NSW Government and the City of Sydney. Quite a lot of cash, too. 

Bartels talked about how he was raised on the North Shore of Sydney, which was filled with white, Anglo-Saxon heterosexuals. 

The Cross, however, was unique and filled with a diverse range of people of all ages and backgrounds, who came to the area because it was so welcoming. There were no weirdos in the Cross, he said, just eccentrics. 

It was a beautiful line, which gave me goosebumps.

Sadly, I wasn't able to attend any other festival events until the weekend, mainly because I'd only seen the program last Wednesday and my diary was already booked with stuff, which is most unusual, but it's that time of year. I hope next year, the program comes out a little earlier and perhaps they could hold the festival a little earlier, too.

On Saturday, I headed down to the festival pop-up shop, at 28 Macleay Street, in the hope of finding a dream dress, but the one I liked was about $1200, so I went to Fitzroy Gardens for some free entertainment instead. 

It was a gloriously sunny day and I wished I'd brought my hat as I could feel myself burning, despite seeking shelter under a magnolia tree. 

Warren Fahey had put together the line-up of performers and I stayed around for his set with the 'larrikin band', who played bush songs and 'city ditties'. There was a song about Woolloomooloo, which was interesting and Fahey told a few historical tales about the area.

It's not my favourite style of music, but the mood was really good, everyone was happy and a couple of adults danced as the children watched on.

Later, we were treated to a performance by cabaret artist Carlotta, one of the original members of the long-running Les Girls, featuring "heavily costumed males". Les Girls Restaurant opened in 1963 in a purpose-built building on Darlinghurst Road, which was then owned by the late Sydney identity Abe Saffron. Les Girls ran until 1993 and the building is now known as the Empire Hotel.

Carlotta, who sang a tailor-made Kings Cross version of The Lady is a Tramp, was one of four people to be presented with an inaugural 'Characters of the Cross Award', by Lord Mayor Clover Moore, for their contribution to the area.

After receiving her award and performing, Carlotta - who had a sold-out show at the Kings Cross Hotel the night before and a big picture story in the Sydney Morning Herald - signed autographs for her fans.

Also receiving an award was Frankie Davidson, whose song, Have You Ever Been to See Kings Cross, topped the charts in 1962.

If you think you've done some travellin', like to say you've been around;

That you've seen the sights of Paris or the heart of London town;

You might say you dined in Soho, would be mighty hard to toss;

Well let me tell you boy, that you just ain't lived until you've seen King's Cross.

It was quite a lively tune and while he was accepting his award, the music came on and Frankie gave a surprise performance and sang along, as his lovely wife, Helen, pictured with him above, looked on proudly. 

Vittorio Bianchi, above, has been making coffee at the Piccolo Bar Cafe, on Roslyn Street, for about the past 50 years and in that time has become a well known character of the area. As he accepted his award, young children jumped up and cried out his name, "Vittorio! Vittorio! Vittorio!", such is his popularity. 

One of the most photographed men in Kings Cross, Animal from the Kings Cross Bikers, was the last to accept an award from the Lord Mayor, for his contribution to many charities in the neighbourhood.

Animal arrived at the gardens with the crew of men who normally spend Saturdays sitting at Froth Cafe on the strip. 

I always say hello when I pass them, so when I took the photograph above on Saturday, the chap on the right asked me when I was going to go for a ride on his Harley. 

Now that would be a great story. But first, I have to get myself some biker chick threads.

As I was leaving the gardens, I passed by the lovely El Alamein Memorial Fountain and a beautifully dressed woman, above, who had just dropped her handbag, spilling some of its contents on the ground. 

I stopped to help her and as I was picking up some of her belongings, I remarked upon how pretty her red velvet rosebud pocket mirror was. 

"No one ever helps me," she said.

"Please, you keep it."

I couldn't accept it, but instead stopped and had a quick chat, also complimenting her on her exquisitely coloured outfit, which had been put together like a fantastic Matisse.

I soon learned her name was Boom Boom LaBern and she once a well-known Kings Cross cabaret artist. Pictures from her career feature on the wall of the Piccolo Bar. 

Since googling her, I have discovered she keeps a memoir-style blog, and also once ran a cafe in Dharamsala, a hill station in northern India. 

I was so pleased to meet her and happy that she posed for a picture. Doesn't she look marvellous. Next year at the festival, she should be presented with a Characters of the Cross Award.

I returned to Fitzroy Gardens briefly on Sunday, but it was so unbearably hot and there was not a breeze to be felt. I only stayed long enough to see one of the performers in the gypsy caravan, above, and to buy a couple of second-hand crime novels, which I duly took home and read, while an electric fan kept me cool.

But I'm looking forward to next year's festival and hope to meet more characters and attend many more entertaining events. 

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Heritage Items: El Alamein Memorial Fountain

Isn't the El Alamein Memorial Fountain just the most beautiful thing?

The 52-year-old fountain is an engineering marvel, an internationally known landmark of Kings Cross and creates a wonderful sense of calm and feeling of awe at Fitzroy Gardens.

I, like so many residents, visitors, photographers and tourists to the Cross, have long admired its presence: the sound of its water falling into the pool below, the wet spray that envelops you when you walk by on windy days, the droplets glistening in the sun and the perfect orb of H2O created as if by magic.

But the much-loved fountain has been surrounded by scaffolding since early this year and I have longed for its return, which is why I am over the moon about it being switched back on this Saturday at 10.30am. 

Do not miss this historical moment when the taps are turned on and the fountain springs back into life.

The fountain was designed by architect Robert Woodward in 1959 for a design competition by the then Sydney City Council. Woodward did it mainly as a creative project, to push his discipline, and it must have been fantastic for him when he won the prize. 

The 211 wands that make up the fountain's dandelion-style shape were manufactured, in what must have been a fairly monotonous process, by metalworker Eric Williams (pictured above left with foreman George Bushnell, right).

The fountain is actually a war memorial, and was erected in commemoration of the battles of El Alamein during World War II. 

Australian soldiers of the Ninth Division fought near the Egyptian town of El Alamein and these two battles helped turn the course of the war towards victory for the Allies.

Woodward himself was a World War II veteran so he obviously put his heart into the design.

Rather than commemorating lives lost by Australian troops, the El Alamein Memorial Fountain celebrates a victory, and so rather than being a solemn memorial, it bursts forth with life and vitality.

Picture: State Library of NSW

After the fountain was officially opened in 1961, by the then Lord Mayor Harry Jensen, Woodward was catapulted into international fountain-designer stardom and he duly changed careers, setting up a private practice to focus on his new specialty "making art out of water".

(By the way, I love that chap in the photograph above who has his back to the camera. It's like he can't be bothered with all the pomp and ceremony; he just wants to admire that fountain.)

Woodward's design was copied around the world and even ended up in mail-order catalogues, where you could purchase your very own dandelion-style fountain. 

But they never had the same quality or effect as the original.

Of working with water, Woodward told Hazel de Berg in 1972:

"I like water very much, it's a fine medium to work in, a little difficult of course, one can't put it in a lathe or shape it as you do with metals, or forge it or cast it, but those difficulties themselves are what give it its main charm . . . it has form, it has transparency, it reflects light, has movement. 

"It has constantly changing form, although one can control it."

Woodward was also commissioned to create numerous replicas of the fountain including one in Malaysia (since dismantled) and three in the United States.

One of the US versions was made for the headquarters of Tupperware in Florida and also became the company's logo. 

In a 1996 interview with Paul and Susan Johnson, Woodward talked about how he created the fountain specifically for the site - remember this was before the Fitzroy Gardens were landscaped by Ilmar Berzins in 1969. 

"I would go to Kings Cross and look at it, both in the day and at night, and realize that as you walk down the street and look backwards, traffic blocked the view. 

"It needed to be high enough to be seen above cars and, luckily, people's eye line is just above cars. 

"The fountain needed to be seen from three different streets and the streets were different in those days - it needed to be a three dimensional thing. 

"I suppose the first idea that came to me was a ball of water and even the word itself seemed an appropriate thing of Kings Cross. 

"Fairly quickly my design evolved to form a dandelion. Of course the presentation method was difficult because how do you present water? I did that by going to Kings Cross and taking photographs of the site and then blowing them up and making a montage. I even used an old photograph of a dandelion in a montage. 

"Having the water in the air like that, a long way above the footpath, I used the contours of the site to create a pool just above the highest contour. 

"Then by setting it off to one side a certain amount, I had the chance of repetition once again. 

"The steps and the detail in the stonework repeats all the way down, but there is organic freedom in it, in that they are not all the same size and the pools shorten. It just grows in that fashion and the site dictates most of what happens."

The plaques from that opening ceremony in 1961 are still there today, as they should be, but after five decades the fountain was not in the best condition.

Many of the tiles in the surrounding pools were chipped or broken and had been replaced over the years by inferior copies. The wands were also clogged by years of dust - and washing-up detergent - and were not spraying as well as they should. Not to mention the water that would leak out onto the surrounding pavers.

The City of Sydney began working with Woodward on how best to restore the fountain to its original glory, and following his death in January 2010, that consultation continued with his family, including his widow, Margaret Woodward.

The restoration began in February this year and since then the site has been surrounded by scaffolding. I have been following the project with much interest and have even been lucky enough to be let through into the construction site to see how it was progressing.

The restoration project included the manufacturing of new wands and this task was given to the original fountain metalworker's son, Denis Williams.

He remade the 211 wands, just like his father did five decades earlier. 

It was a much simpler process for Denis, who had the aid of computers, but it was still a nerve-wracking process for him, especially on the night before the 211 wands were due to be screwed back into the ball, and the water switched on for testing. 

Before installing each wand, Denis Williams (pictured above) tested it with a hose to ensure the water flowed through properly.

And then once the wands were in place, he had to go around and check it all again, making sure the water came out of each wand with the correct pressure in a perfect circle.

I'm told, by sources close to the fountain, that the water tested again, now flows in a perfect globe and that is far superior to how it appeared before the restoration began. I suppose now it will look just as it did in 1961 - and I can't wait to see it. 

Years after the fountain was opened, Woodward still gained attention for his Kings Cross jewel. In a 1978 article about Woodward in the Bulletin magazine, journalist Carol Henty wrote:

When the day before the official opening came Woodward and his wife Margaret took their old friend, the sculptor Lyndon Dadswell, to see the first test.

It was a Sunday night in November. They heard the rushing water, then, above the hoarding they saw it, alive and alight. Dadswell burst out: 'Oh Bob, I wish it was mine'.

Woodward says: "You can know, of course, that it's going to work. But until you press the button you never know whether it will have that extra touch of magic."

El Alamein Memorial Fountain re-opening

10.30am, Saturday 28 July 2012

Fitzroy Gardens, Kings Cross

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To learn more about Woodward and the design process behind the El Alamein Memorial Fountain, visit the Heritage Branch website here, which has a comprehensive history.

Darlinghurst Blog: Detritus: News

After a big community push to save Fitzroy Gardens from the bulldozer's path, the City of Sydney Council caved into pressure, announcing at their meeting on Monday night that plans to demolish the gardens in Kings Cross were no longer on the agenda.
''Overwhelmingly our most recent feedback shows the local community is divided on what should happen,'' Mayor Clover Moore said in a press release yesterday.
''Half do not want any changes to the park, while the other half either support only minimal changes or all changes proposed in the 2010 draft concept plans.
''I'm a passionate believer in listening and working with local communities to get the best outcomes for an area.
''While support for the park's makeover was strong a year or two ago - it's clear that has now waned.
''I believe the best way forward is to preserve the park - to keep it just they way it is with only some vital heritage and maintenance work undertaken.''

I'm so happy that Ms Moore finally listened to what was actually the majority of residents, who were opposed to the $9 million redevelopment of the site. If you want to learn about the history of the site and the establishment of the gardens in 1971, visit my post here.
Later this year, the ''vital heritage and maintenance work'' will begin and will include restoration works on the El Alamein Fountain, improved seating and lighting, playground upgrades, painting of the Kings Cross police station and new shrubs and ''floral displays''.

Maybe the change from the $9 million can now go to helping the people in our community who are most in need, such as the men and women who frequent the Wayside Chapel, those who have become homeless and those suffering from mental illness. I don't normally preach like this, but $9 million seemed like such a waste to spend on a redevelopment that would have not only destroyed a part of the area's history, but was not wanted or needed by the majority of the community.

In other City of Sydney council related news . . . a new, amended development application for the dunny-lane house in Caldwell Street has been submitted to the council. The height of the building has been reduced to two stories plus attic and there are some other minor design revisions, which can be viewed at the council's website here.

There has been quite a bit of opposition to the proposed dunny-lane development at 40A Caldwell Street and if you are new to this story, you can read the background on my blog here. Most of the opposition comes from the owners of three terrace houses on Surrey Street that back on to the tiny site, which was purchased by Federal Court Judge Dennis Cowdroy for just $1. Justice Cowdroy also owns the neighbouring Caldwell Street terrace at 40 Caldwell Street.
The story behind the $1 title transfer was covered by The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald, and those opposed to the plans have pasted-up tear sheets from the newspapers to a wall near the proposed site.

The protesters also hung this large banner (below) across one side of a terrace house, which prompted the City of Sydney council to threaten legal action against the owner of the terrace for not submitting a development application for the banner. What nonsense.

Also nonsensical is the fact that there are only two days left to respond to the new, amended development application. This short response period also makes me rather suspicious of the council's motives, as I had no idea there was even a new DA until late last week, and I am rather nosy about these kinds of things.
Last time around, 59 people wrote to the council stating their opposition to the plans. Some of that group have also set up a blog where you can read the latest developments of the proposed development.

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www.onedollardunnylane.blogspot.com

Darlinghurst: Houses: 40A Caldwell Street

I received a message last week from a Darlinghurst resident and reader who was concerned about the ''nasty development planned for the little lane with the beautiful historic sandstone wall that runs behind the terraces at the bottom of Beare's Stairs.'' 

I had seen the development application for 40A Caldwell Street, but had no idea where that address was and assumed it was a development planned for a site with an existing house. I knew nothing about a laneway or an historic sandstone wall, so set out to investigate.

Even if you walk along Surrey Street or use Beare's Stairs regularly, you may never have noticed a large wooden gate tucked away in the eastern corner of this Caldwell Street laneway. I certainly hadn't noticed it. But here it is:

Behind the wooden gate is a landscaped area that backs on to three Surrey Street terraces. It was difficult to see the landscaping, even when I looked over the gate, and under it:

This is the laneway, which was once a ''dunny lane'' that the reader mentioned and you can see the sandstone foundation wall on the right side of the right photograph. The area is about 2.6m wide and runs the length of three terraces at 79, 77 and 75 Surrey Street and has kind of been requisitioned by them to add an extra third of space to their back gardens. So the laneway is actually a private garden now and it is very difficult for anyone who doesn't live in these three terraces (below) to appreciate the sandstone foundation wall. 

The land - just 48m2 of it - is actually a separate Torrens title that dates back to the original 1800s subdivision of this area, now known as the Barcom Conservation Area. Perhaps because of its small size and obscure location, it was never developed. But now, the owners of 40 Caldwell Street (the blue terrace below right) have bought the title and want to develop the space. 

The terrace at 40 Caldwell Street is owned by a company called Specialist Advocates, whose sole directors are Federal Court judge Dennis Cowdroy and his wife, Jennifer. Specialist Advocates purchased the title for 40A Caldwell Street in November last year for a token $1 from grazier John Robison, who had inherited the title. 

There was a well-researched story in Tuesday's The Australian newspaper by Jodie Minus, which details the history of how the grazier came to have the title, which you can read here.

On February 2 architect Stafford Watts submitted a development application to the City of Sydney  council to build a $200,000 four-storey house with three bedrooms for the little site. The house will literally be wedged in to the site, right up against 40 Caldwell Street, which will act as a support wall:

If you look in the above illustration, you can also see how the front of the house will have a 4m high   ''sparrow-pecked'' sandstone ''plinth . . . to complement the sandstone base of No 40 Caldwell Street and provide a suitable backdrop to Beare's Stairs,'' according to the Statement of Environmental Effects submitted to the council. 

By law, there are also no windows on the side facing the backyards of 75, 77 and 79 Surrey Street, so their privacy isn't an issue. The only issue for those three terraces is sunlight and shadow, which is minutely detailed in the SOEE - but I won't bore you with that. And, of course, the loss of some of their garden.

I understand the reader's concerns about the disappearance of the historic sandstone foundation wall, but I frankly did not know about it anyway; it is only accessible and visible to the residents of those three Surrey Street terraces; and finally, there are loads of historic sandstone walls and foundations around Darlinghurst and I doubt the suburb will suffer for the loss of this one. 

Having said that, I really don't think the development application will be approved by the council because it is just seems far too daring and a little bit crazy to want to build a house on this tiny block. Access to the site for builders and scaffolding is also likely to be a major issue and just imagine if a bulldozer or grader or whatever accidentally bumped in to Beare's Stairs and damaged them. The spot would hardly get any sun and would just be a mosquito infested swamp. 

I also think it is a good idea to keep these heritage dunny-lanes as they are a rather peculiar relic of the past. What do you think? 

Interestingly, Mr Robison the grazier also inherited ''dunny lanes'' at 8A Nimrod Street (above left) and 24A Nimrod Street (above right, reclaimed by property owners years ago), which he has so far left unclaimed. 

The Griffin Theatre Company has applied to the NSW Land and Property Management Authority for possession of the title at 8A. The title apparently runs all the way along the backs of houses on Craigend and Caldwell streets, right past the theatre to the kerb. The theatre want the title so they can use the wide footpath area (below - apologies for the grainy night pic) for an alfresco day cafe and night bar. They will add another entrance to the theatre in the wall on the right.

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To view the development application for 40A Caldwell Street, Darlinghurst, visit the council's site here.

The exhibition period closes on Thursday March 3. 

UPDATE: The exhibition period has been extended to March 25.

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While on the topic of heritage, the submission period for the council's proposed redevelopment of Fitzroy Gardens was extended until February 25 - that's tomorrow! Be quick! 

Visit the Save Fitzroy Gardens website, which has an easy one-click-wonder-way to lodge your submission.