James Castle & Sons Art Metal Workers/Gould’s Book Arcade – Newtown, NSW
Gould's Book Arcade, 2012
There’s not much that can be said about Gould’s Book Arcade that isn’t already well known. The labyrinth of old, dusty books has become a Sydney institution, and a perfect fit for the suburb of Newtown. In the building’s first life, however, it was James Castle & Sons Art Metal Workers, who apparently specialised in creating furniture and pulpits for churches and synagogues at the turn of the 20th century.
32 King Street, 1988. Image by Robert Parkinson.
Looking back nearly 25 years, the building seems to have hardly changed at all. Gould’s appears to have moved to its current location from Leichhardt in either 1988 or 1989, but prior to that it was located on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets in Sydney.
Gould's Book Arcade, George Street, circa 1983.
Silk Road Noodle Bar/For sale – Homebush, NSW
On one hand, the Silk Road Noodle Bar has everything a functioning restaurant needs to advertise itself. On the other hand, it wasn’t open when it said it would be.
The restaurant occupies a pretty fascinating part of Parramatta Road. Across the road is the Horse & Jockey pub, the only reminder of the existence of the Homebush racecourse. Beside it is the Midnight Star function centre, a former theatre and squatter’s delight. With so much going on around it, “Gary” has managed to keep the Silk Road a mystery.
It bombards you with two sets of opening hours, yet doesn’t offer a phone number. BYO indeed.
RECENTLY REFURBISHED UPDATE:
Real estate agent Taylor Nicholas has added some interior shots of the Silk Road to its online listing in the hope of drumming up more interest. For those of you who are interested, but find it’s a bit out of your price range, check the relevant pics right here:
Silky…
Very silky…
You can almost taste the silk from here. Thanks reader David for the heads-up!
Pizza Hut/Belfield Charcoal BBQ House/Seoul Hoikwan Restaurant – Belfield, NSW
This is the first of what will doubtless be many entries about Pizza Huts. In 1999, Pizza Hut HQ decided that eat-in restaurants were no longer viable, and spent the next ten years selling them off. Only a handful, if that, still exist. What’s funny is how the new owners mostly haven’t bothered to disguise that their new acquisition was once a Pizza Hut, but we’ll get to those.
This one is fair enough; it’s just another restaurant. Why change it? However, this one is notable because it was Australia’s first Pizza Hut. It was built in 1970, and apart from its iconic red roof now being green, it doesn’t look that different.
You missed a spot, guys.
Keith Lord Furniture Electrical/Brescia Furniture Showroom/derelict – Ashfield, NSW
I remember when I was a child, I was taken on yet another tedious day trip to Brescia Furniture, on Parramatta Road at Ashfield. When we attempted to sit on one of the lounges to see how it felt, we were rudely told to get off by one of the staff. We left empty handed.
Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it, Brescia?
The showroom was built in 1975 for Keith Lord Furniture, replacing their old site:
Keith Lord Furniture and Electrical, Ashfield NSW, April 1965. Image courtesy Library of NSW.
Lord died in 1978, and by 1994 his chain was dead. Along the way, this showroom was sold to Brescia, for whom it became a model store. But in 2005 it went up in one of the worst and most intense fires in Sydney’s history. It was said that the combination of leather, varnish, wood and other flammable materials all stockpiled together in a 30-year-old building didn’t help over 900 firefighters put out the blaze over three days. I guess that’s why they didn’t want us on the lounges.
Chevy’s Ribs/Floorcovering Bargains – Ashfield, NSW
Chevy’s Ribs on Parramatta Road seems like the kind of place you might have filled up on greasy food at before heading off to drag up Underwood Road and through the abattoir at Homebush. Luckily, if you were too lazy, Chevy appears to have offered a delivery service. That was nice of him.
Also, does it mean bargains within the realm of floorcoverings, or bargains so mindblowing you’ll cover the floor with something?
UNCOVERED UPDATE: Hope you weren’t looking for floorcovering bargains, because you won’t find ’em here no more.
Thanks to the collapse of the floorcovering market (or a fortuitous gust of wind), the true extent of Chevy’s Ribs has been exposed for all to see.
That 70s font, that boastful tagline! I can’t help but wonder what that difference was, just as I can’t help but wonder if Chevy’s delivery service pre-dated Silvio’s Dial-a-Pizza (1978)? Only Chevy knows…and he’s not talking.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 