{"id":3278,"date":"2022-11-01T07:22:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2023-09-04T16:23:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T06:23:58","slug":"nostalgic-journey-redfern-bohemian-nights-to-chic-city-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/nostalgic-journey-redfern-bohemian-nights-to-chic-city-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Nostalgic Journey Through Redfern: From Bohemian Nights to Chic City Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Words by Dorian Mode Photography by Lydia Thorpe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am in my early 20s. I am drinking a beer at a party at my next\u2013door neighbour\u2019s bohemian warehouse in Redfern. I\u2019m an impoverished student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and most of my chums are musos, deadbeat poets or struggling painters. Suddenly, the seediest looking derelict of a human being sidles up beside me at the party. He\u2019s trying to engage me in conversation through yellow teeth. He\u2019s a heroin addict. My entire body language says, \u201cShoo! Be gone with you!\u201d But he persists. Now the smelly tramp draws two matchsticks on a napkin, asking what I think of his idea for his lame sculpture. One match is unused. The other is burned. In a blue cloud of smoke from his rolled cigarette, he says, \u201cthe matchsticks represent \u2018life and death\u2019. Perhaps you can use one to burn your clothes, I think. My next door neighbour, seeing my unease, discreetly flags me over. My neighbour is the (then) struggling painter, Tim Storrier. (Now Tim Storrier AM, who won the 2012 Archibald Prize.) He nudges me. \u201cPsst! Just thought you\u2019d like to know that the guy you keep brushing is Brett Whiteley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, as I stand outside the NSW Art Gallery before Brett\u2019s two giant matchsticks \u2013 one unused and one burned \u2013 I think crap. I wish I\u2019d kept that napkin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I lived in Redfern\/Chippendale as a struggling student, living on lentils, brown rice and left wing ideals, it was perfect: close to universities and cheap. But no one wanted to live in Redfern any more than they wanted to live in Chornobyl. Indeed, the word Redfern still conjures negative images for seniors. But I\u2019m here to tell you things have changed. Indeed, millennials would kill to buy a house in Redfern\/Chippendale now. So what would it be like to have a weekend getaway in my old stomping ground?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our digs for this nostalgic travel adventure are Adina Sydney Chippendale. Set in a residential area, this unassuming hotel is an 8\u2013minute walk from Redfern Station if sans car. (If driving, Adina has parking.) The building was recently transformed with a contemporary interior design and fit\u2013out. To step into Adina Chippendale is to step into a secluded, inner city oasis, with interiors in soft galah pinks and greys, with terrazzo tiles, all enclosed in a hip mid\u2013century aesthetic. Like all Adina Apartments it includes a kitchen and laundry and their wonderful (Simba) pillows, surely made from the belly fluff of angels. This Adina is within spitting distance of the Seymour Centre, where we see a play that evening. It\u2019s also perfectly situated amongst Chippendale\u2019s groovy caf\u00e9s and galleries and virtually across the road from the major department stores at Broadway, such as Peters of Kensington and Myer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now did you do what we did? On the final weekend of the NSW Dine and Discover Vouchers, we panicked, using them up madly before they ran out \u2013 hence the Seymour Centre and we also saw the Archibald Prize at the NSW Art Gallery. Psst! Did you know parking at the Domain is only $12 all day? (6min walk to the Art Gallery via Art Gallery Rd.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, walking past the aforementioned matchsticks to the Art Gallery (where\u2019s that f\u2013ing napkin now!), we scan our vouchers on our iPhones at the gallery and enjoy the Archibald. It\u2019s chockers. It seems everyone has the same idea: quick, use those vouchers! However, we are shocked at the number of seniors not wearing masks. Carn people! With covid effectively taking out a Boeing 747 worth of seniors each week, what do seniors need to understand before they simply wear a mask in a crowded public space? We just don\u2019t get it. Anyway, the Archibald is the perfect wade\u2013through\u2013the\u2013shallow\u2013end of the art world as most paintings represent a public figure. So being accessible, it\u2019s always been a hit with the public. Post art, upstairs we enjoy lunch at the gallery\u2019s cafe. It\u2019s surprisingly reasonable. They\u2019re not out to gouge you. $12 for a sanga and an excellent pot of cha. And all this with views over Woolloomooloo Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then stroll over to the Hyde Park Barracks. (7\u2013min walk via Art Gallery Rd.) The Hyde Park Barracks is a heritage listed former convict barracks and 19th\u2013century immigrant accommodation, located at the Hyde Park end of Macquarie Street. Here we wish to use up more vouchers. But can you believe the museum is free this weekend? How ironic. (Hey, it\u2019s good to have a government job.) Anyway, a lot\u2019s changed at the Barracks since we visited last. They now have a fabulous audio tour that takes you through the different incarnations of the barracks \u2013 which is a palimpsest of its erstwhile residents. But suddenly I hear lots of people coughing around me in the dark. Panicked about covid, I turn to my wife and whisper, \u201cI\u2019m not sure this is safe in here. I can hear people coughing everywhere!\u201d She laughs, explaining it\u2019s the sickly convicts on our audio recording. She\u2019s right. I did hear more cockney accents than in a Dickens Audio Book. For mind, possibly the most moving items at the Barracks is the detritus found under floorboards: a child\u2019s shoe, a clay pipe, a Victorian steel knitting needle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postcolonial narrative, we drive back to our digs in Chippo to have a glass of bubbles on the long balcony of our stylish apartment. Here I reflect on my old neighbourhood. And how I struggled just to survive as a student. If you\u2019ve ever read the wonderful, Ruth Park, you\u2019ll know that the area was always associated with privation in Sydney. Suddenly a smartly dressed guest wanders out of an apartment to sit at a deckchair by Adina\u2019s twinkling pool, talking on his mobile about stock options. What do you think now, Ruth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the play at the Seymour Centre, we dine early at The Rose Hotel, Chippendale (over the road from the Adina). Again, I am sitting in the pub gobsmacked (metaphorically). Because last time I was here I was gobsmacked (literally). Back in the day, at this pub, you\u2019d get a fight faster than a drink. Anyway, we thought being early midweek the restaurant would be quiet. But it was as packed as a refugee train. The meals were fabulous and the wines outstanding. How could this be the same bucket\u2013of\u2013blood pub? Where am I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following morning, we breakfast next door to Adina at a cafe, Terra Cotta Roasters. The brekkie is excellent with delicious coffee as the name suggests. Customers are mostly hipsters with Ned Kelly beards, cradling designer dogs with Diamant\u00e9 collars. Or smartly dressed empty\u2013nester retirees who could have stepped out of an Armani catalogue. As we wander around the old neighbourhood, I spy funky art galleries and even a tattoo museum (however that works). My wife and I (now married 35 years) can\u2019t believe the change in our old neighbourhood. We kick ourselves for not buying the flea\u2013ridden terrace we were renting all those years ago. But who knew? At strolls end, we find ourselves walking up a tidy street with towering office blocks. I turn to my wife and say, \u201cyou\u2019re not going to believe this. We have just walked up the \u2018The Block\u2019. She looks at me open mouthed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having taught indigenous kids at NAISDA college for 4 years, I always had loads of Koori chums all my life. Even as a student. But whenever visiting chums at The Block, I always felt a slight trepidation, even if I did have a mohawk and looked pretty tough back then. These days I\u2019m all fine\u2013knit cardigans and sensible shoes. Matt Monroe is crooning on my iPod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we drive out of Redfern and point the car north, I think my only connection to those old Redfern days is the team I still support: The Rabbitohs. And these days they even win games. How apt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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fact #1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adina Chippendale offers 42 spacious studio rooms or one, two and three \u2013bedroom apartments. Providing an ideal sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the city, the rooms have been stylishly fitted with newly furnished fixtures and furniture throughout. They offer generous lounge and dining areas, along with free WiFi. 24\u2013hour reception and onsite parking. There\u2019s a pool, and gym or you can relax in the secluded courtyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of Sydney\u2019s best new eateries are close by, including Spice Alley and Ester. The apartments are perfectly located among some of Sydney\u2019s best galleries and forward\u2013thinking precincts. Within a stone\u2019s throw of contemporary Chinese gallery White Rabbit and performing arts venues like the Seymour Centre, all of which are perfect for cultural day adventures and evening entertainment. Indulge in some retail therapy with a visit to the many shops and market stalls of Central Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a fully equipped kitchen in every apartment, you can cook in your room. If not, that\u2019s ok, many of Sydney\u2019s best hawker\u2013style eateries are close by, including Spice Alley and Ester. Eat in or take away and enjoy a picnic at the tranquil nearby park Chippendale Green. Soak up the bohemian caf\u00e9 culture, sample international cuisine or experience fine dining in a hatted restaurant. Rooms average at $220 per night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Words by Dorian Mode Photography by Lydia Thorpe I am in my early 20s. I am drinking a beer at a party at my next\u2013door neighbour\u2019s bohemian warehouse in Redfern.…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[75,45,70],"series":[115],"class_list":["post-3278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-article","tag-dorian-mode","tag-lydia-thorpe","series-coffee-with-a-coastie"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/09\/holiday-in-redfern.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/feed\/podcast\/coffee-with-a-coastie","embedCode":"

Nostalgic Journey Through Redfern: From Bohemian Nights to Chic City Days<\/a><\/blockquote>