Vanessa’s Milk Bar/For Lease – Belfield, NSW
Milk bars have taken on a kind of mythical quality, especially with the late Gen-Y set. In death, they’re trendy and retro in ways they could never have been in life. They’re kind of like Michael Jackson in that way – now that he’s gone, everyone remembers how cool and trendsetting he once was, but they forget (intentionally or not) the creepy stuff. Years of film and TV showing our favourite characters hanging out in cafes and burger joints have inspired many youngsters to want to find their own hangout joints, but as the milk bars die off all that’s left are the pubs.
There’s a fine line too between milk bars and charcoal chicken shops. Most charcoal places you’d find today don’t do milkshakes, or are doing some kind of Portuguese style cooking to set themselves apart from the regular charcoal style. Problem is, the charcoals are now in the minority.
Oh, and for anyone still wondering: Vanessa’s Milk Bar was run by a cranky old Greek guy named George (never call him Vanessa), who would rouse at you if you stared at his exhaustive lolly assortment for too long. C’mon, George, you knew we had to look. I wonder how he reacted during the open inspections?
Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant/Glass Wool Insulation Wholesale/For Lease – Beverly Hills, NSW
A fixer upper.
Before the M5 sapped the area of its thoroughfare traffic, Beverly Hills was once a cutthroat restaurant circuit. Culinary competition was fierce, with even the road’s primary supermarket eventually converted into yet another restaurant. The strip along King Georges Road is still home to a surprisingly wide variety of cuisines for south-west Sydney, but the glory days are certainly behind it.
That’s a Ming Dynasty automatic door.
Chinese restaurants are well represented on the strip, so it’s no surprise to see a corpse of a fallen rival rotting on the sidelines. The Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant, on the corner of King Georges and Stoney Creek roads, has the distinction of having maintained its chintzy Oriental decor even through its time as a “GL S FOOL INSU ION Wholesal” establishment.
The facade is in surprisingly good condition, but the restaurant itself is empty. The signage is pretty tattered, none moreso than the light-up sign above the shopfront.
The nearby footbridge acts as a Texas School Book Depository with which we can solve this mystery:
Back and to the left.
Despite the restaurant’s outwardly ramshackle appearance, we can at least take comfort in the fact the building must be well insulated.
EXPOSED UPDATE:
In a development only I could care about, the owners have apparently torn down the rinky-dink Oriental decoration, revealing more of this shop’s history. Behold:
Big John. That’s the big reveal. Once upon a time, Big John either owned or operated out of this place, and the only way they could hide his involvement (and why should they want to do that, hmm?) was by covering him up. But now he’s back, and the secret is out. If you ARE Big John, get in touch.
Advance Bank/Interflora/For Lease – Kingsgrove, NSW
The Advance Bank brand lasted only ten years, from 1985-1995, at which point it was rebranded the Bank of South Australia. This fascinating tidbit aside, we can see that after the Advance Bank went south (haw haw), the shop became an Interflora florist, but above all this post exists to prove that not every shop in Kingsgrove has ‘King’ in their name.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 