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

Across the Border: Potts Point: Retailers: My Little Monkey

I don't have any children, but a few of my friends do and two of them both gave birth in the past month. I was very pleased they had little girls (Finn and Emerald), because it meant I could go shopping for miniature dresses. 

I normally would go to Plum Interiors, on Macleay Street, Potts Point, because they have a really cute range of little frocks with matching hats and handbags.

But about two months ago, a new baby and children's wear shop opened up on Orwell Street, just up the road, and I always like to support new businesses.

My Little Monkey has clothing and toys for babies and children, aged from about zero to five. The labels are mostly from France and the US and they are quite stylish. There are also wooden counting blocks, felt mushrooms, wraps and bibs, and of course, knitted monkeys with long arms and legs.

I absolutely adore this purple SILK swimsuit (above left), but I was worried summer would be over before Emerald or Finn could fit into it. Instead I purchased a couple of romper suits made from 100 per cent cotton, which the woman behind the counter happily gift wrapped for free.

If you have children, there is a play section in one corner where you can leave them while you look around:

But my favourite thing in the shop was a fabulous three-storey dolls' house with swimming pool and rooftop entertaining area:

It costs about $300 for the house alone and then you need to buy all the furnishings and residents, which adds up to about $1,000 for the lot.

The house is made by a Swedish company called Lundby and the attention to detail is incredible.

It's very different to the basic wooden dolls' house I had as a child, which looked a bit like this:

It never really fired my imagination or held my interest for very long.

But even as an adult, this Lundby house makes me want to start playing with dolls again, which is kinda weird. Perhaps the only solution is to buy it for Finn or Emerald and then just go and visit them lots. If you want to see the dolls' house it's in the front window of My Little Monkey. 

You might be pleased to notice that the woman of the house, the mother I guess, is relaxing on a sun lounge by the swimming pool, while the father is up on the rooftop barbecuing some sausages for their Australia Day party.

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My Little Monkey

3/115 Macleay Street (enter via Orwell Street)

Potts Point NSW 2011

02 8964 6191

facebook.com/mylittlemonkeypottspoint

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Retailers: Exciting New Shop

The Kings Cross Centre promised an 'exciting new shop' would be opening soon in the old GNC Live Well site. The sign was up for weeks and I had my fingers crossed there would be a new frock shop in the hood, or just anything that deserved the title 'exciting'.

But as it turns out, it was a false promise and a couple of weeks ago, the area had another one of these shops:

Another crap, over-priced convenience store. Seriously. That is not exciting. I'm so annoyed by the centre's big lie, but I suspect this Quick & Easy will be as unpopular as the one that moved into the old Kookaburra Kiosk site on Burton Street. It recently closed down.

Happy New Year!

Darlinghurst Blog: Retailers: Rococo Flowers

Does anyone not like flowers? 

I couldn't live without them and spend a neat sum on cut blooms each week, and also can't help wanting to add to my collection of potted flowers.

I love flowers' names, their textures, their leaf and petal patterns; and I also love dissecting them with my fingers to see how they are made.

I look at their petal patterns and colours, and their symmetry, and wonder how on earth they came to be. 

At the moment, I am considering rearranging the furniture in my apartment so that I can set up an entire table purely devoted to cut flowers in vases, and living pots of colour. 

There's just not enough space though, unfortunately.

But this is kind of what I'd like my apartment to look like:

Just imagine the sweet fragrance.

Rococo Flowers florist has been on the corner of Liverpool and Bourke Street for as long as I can remember (about 10 years), but I had never been inside to buy anything, because I just assumed that it would be expensive. Assumptions are the worst kind of thing.

While walking past Rococo with Ruby last week, we spotted these lovely purple flowered bushes (above) lined up on the street and we stopped to look and learnt they were just $9 each. Not bad at all. Suburban prices. So we went inside to check out the cut blooms.

There were all kinds of roses, tulips and lilies.

 Specimen like hyacinth.

To-die-for dahlias.

And these lovely white-lined gloxinia, from the same Gesneriaceae family as African violets.

Rococo Flowers also stocks a small collection of gifts, such as scented candles and soaps, as well as these rather cute snow globes:

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Rococo Flowers

2/303a Liverpool Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9357 6688

www.rococoflowers.com.au

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: Retailers: The Main Drag

It's debatable which street in Darlinghurst is the main drag. Some would say it is the eponymous Darlinghurst Road. 

Others might think Victoria Street, with its excess of cafes, deserves the name. 

But, it is too late, Oxford Street has already claimed the title and TODAY it celebrates the win with a special Sydney Mardi Gras 2012 Festival event, fittingly titled, The Main Drag.

And - as to be expected - burlesque performances, a pop-up yoga garden and knitted penises will feature.

The day is designed to promote the shops that line the world-famous Mardi Gras Parade route, and it is well-timed, as just yesterday three new arts and crafts shops officially opened for business on the strip.

The shops are so new that when I went by yesterday, the proprietress of the Oxford Street Design Store, at 58 Oxford Street (above), was only just opening its roller-door.

The Oxford Street Design Store is run by Alex de Bonis and Louise Helliwell, from non-profit artist collective, Tough Titties.

The idea behind the shop is that artists can supply T-shirts, tote bags, jewellery, zines, whatever - as long as the price-tag is less than $20.  

It's a cute idea and is bound to work, so long as local artists get on board to provide products to sell. 

And I must admit, it has sparked off my creative bug and I am now musing on what sort of stuff I could create that would retail for less than $20 but still earn me a pretty penny. 

These cute, hand-printed tea-towels (above) are a clever idea, and come in at just $18 each. 

He Made She Made, at 70 Oxford Street, is the next shop along the street, and features the work of four designers: Bent Patterson, Laura Kepreotis, Maaike Pullar and Patrick Chambers.

The quartet create mostly larger pieces for the home, such as this cool Tetris-inspired book-nook or display case (above), which I really adore, but can't afford (it's just over $1000).

I also love the lighting stand (above), which would look amazing in a big warehouse space, but not a teeny-weeny studio like mine.

Many of the pieces are created using the "upcycling" method, that is, taking some old junk that was dumped on the side of the road perhaps, and turning it into an exquisite piece of art-furniture.

Also sweet is this wall-piece (above), which reminds me of Jesus' crown of thorns. 

You must also go in to try out the amazing twin chairs they have on display in the centre of the shop, which I forgot to photograph. 

They really don't look like chairs and have strange wands shooting out the back that bend when you sit in them. 

They are so unique and imaginative, they are destined to be a collectors' item.

Further up the street is Platform 72, at 72 Oxford Street - natch. 

The shop is run by Samantha Mitchell-Finn and Juliet Rosser, who rent shelf space to local artists to display and sell their wares. The artists receive 100 per cent of the sale price. 

In one of the front windows at Platform 72, is this hot pink "Venis" chair (above), which has a big penis bursting out from the middle of the seat. 

And in the other window is a display of knitted penises styled into cactus-shapes and arranged in pots on a great 1950s plant-holder. 

Sitting inside, knitting on a chair, was the artist behind the penises, Kirsten Fredericks.

The space has loads of interesting products, including hand-printed tea-towels featuring font-heavy maps of Sydney and maps of Surry Hills main streets.

There's also jewellery hand-crafted from decapitated Ken dolls (above).

And high-end, hand-tooled leather handbags (above).

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The Main Drag

Saturday 25 February 2012
Yoga at Oxford Square from 11am
Performances at Taylor Square from midday-4pm

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Oxford Street Design Store

58 Oxford Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010 

www.oxfordstdesignstore.com.au

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He Made She Made

70 Oxford Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

0478 504 232

www.hemadeshemade.com

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Platform 72 

72 Oxford Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

www.platform72.com.au