THE NAKED CITY – NAUGHTY BUT NOWHERE!
As the Sydney sightseeing bus moseys its way down Darlinghurst Rd, bemused tourists must wonder what all the fuss is about. No doubt the bus driver makes some reference to the halcyon days of strip clubs and streetwalkers but the current vista is hardly worth the snap of a digital camera. Even two of the Cross’s best known passion pits, Dream Girls and the Bada Bing, have been shut down for six months because of illicit drug dealing.
The scene is more suburban than salacious and almost every day another piece of the old Kings Cross succumbs to the onslaught of gentrification. We all remember Clover Moore’s endorsement of the precinct as one of “naughty but nice” but these days the label is more “nondescript”. Perhaps the looming edifice of the super upmarket Omnia building, perched right at the entrance to Darlinghurst Rd is the final nail in the coffin, and who knows what consequences its eventual completion will bring.
Those on the city side will enjoy spectacular views of the harbour from their multimillion dollar apartments. On the other hand those lower floor apartments on the Cross side will look directly across to 66 Darlinghurst Rd, the safe injecting room and the clients who regularly loiter outside. Dear oh me, not exactly the ‘neighbourhood views’ you would expect with a one million dollar outlay.
Even more apartments are scheduled to clog the old Golden Mile and with them an invasion of well heeled, cashed up, apartment dwellers – the complete antithesis of the old bohemian culture that once populated the area. Change of course is sadly inevitable, and despite outpourings of nostalgia from those who remember the old Cross, as one long time resident recently told us – “the place is now fucked”.
That might seem an overreaction, after all the remarkable Piccolo Bar still survives, but what of the Sydney sightseeing bus and the visiting sailors who look to the area for the remnants of its licentious past. As in many gentrified areas throughout the world there’s often a faux attempt to preserve or regenerate something of the old historical character associated with the district. Admittedly the Cross has its bronze footpath plaques which spell out some of the strip’s former landmarks and characters but what about a kind of living museum?
The City Of Sydney Council should immediately look to buying up empty shops in Darlinghurst Road – after all there are plenty to choose from. Once secured they could set about recreating some of the Golden Mile’s long lost attractions, like the Pink Pussycat, the Kings Cross Wax Works and even the notorious Cosmopolitan Café. Most would just be facades, with the interiors let out to backpackers or low cost housing, but the effect would still be captivating, with lots of neon and flashing signs. The punters in the Sydney sightseeing bus would never know the difference and visiting sailors could be redirected to the CBD’s thriving massage parlours.
Once the illusion of the various facades was introduced legitimate businesses on the strip would no doubt join the party, rejigging their shopfronts to create their own little piece of Kings Cross history. The $2 Shop could become Sweethearts with an autonotom of Jimmy Barnes sitting in the window. The Omnia could at least evoke the spirit of the old Goldfish Bar with a mural of inebriated patrons surveying the passing parade. Even the wonderful Kings Cross library could be rebranded as the Penthouse Snooker room – complete with the odd pool table and even Louis Bayeh himself occasionally manning the front desk to dispense borrowed books and collect overdue fines.
Just like the Australiana Pioneer Village at Wilberforce, a part of our history would live on in its own twisted Disneyland – a sanitized reminder of what the Cross was like when it was just plain naughty (forget about the nice!).
