Westpac/85°C Bakery Cafe – Hurstville, NSW
As everyone knows, there’s nothing more tragic than the closure of a bank branch. Get your tissues ready.
Here, Hurstville’s obnoxiously named ‘The Spot’ proves that at some point, the heat became too much for Westpac to stand, and even after they got out of the kitchen the temperature continued to rise until the 85°C Bakery Cafe burst into existence. What The Spot was before the heatwave began remains a hot topic.
UPDATE:
Forest Road, 1937. Image courtesy Hurstville Council.
Here’s an old picture of The Spot in 1937, when it was the Coo-ee Clothing store. Pretty exciting, I know, but given how many views this particular entry gets (LOTS), someone’s been hanging out for it.
Delta Money Lent/Anna Loan Office & John B. Stewart Jeweller/Chemist – Hurstville, NSW
On the left, we have the former Delta Money Lent office, cleverly converted by Anna into her own Loan Office. Get your awning fixed, Anna.
On the right is a far more tragic story. According to various old newspapers, 312 Forest Road, Hurstville was a jeweller during the 1920s, run by a man named John B. Stewart. The clock above the awning is presumably a leftover from those days. In February 1933, Stewart filed for bankruptcy, but remained at the address through until Boxing Day, 1936, when he died. By 1941, the address had become a shoe shop. Prior to becoming the chemist, the shop was a Sushi Train restaurant.
Not bankrupt enough to drop out of Lodge, though. Image from SMH, 26 Dec 1936.
John Fretus Auctioneer/Sun Ming Chinese Restaurant – Hurstville, NSW
19 years before John Fretus opened his auctioneering business on Forest Road, Hurstville, misfortune struck:
From SMH, Monday 8 December 1902.
St. George Express House/Z&Y Lighting – Hurstville, NSW
I wasn’t aware that the St. George Express newspaper had ended its run, but apparently Hurstville didn’t have all the lighting it needed so something had to give. St. George Express was started in 1986, and I suppose it would have been in direct competition with the Leader, the other local paper. The last issue of the St. George Express was in 2011.
Blockbuster Video/Rivers Clearance Superstore – Hurstville, NSW
Hmm, what's that big movie ticket shaped sign all about then, eh Rivers?
In the beginning, there was Video Ezy. And it was good. The first Video Ezy store in Australia, it sat on the corner of Forest Road and Queens Road, Hurstville, and had a carpark out the back where each spot was done up to look like it was reserved for a particular 90s superstar. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were not beside each other. But the small space allotted to Video Ezy wasn’t big enough, so the Caltex petrol station across the road made way for BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO, the biggest, most explosive video shop experience the 90s had ever seen. It had it all – TVs built into the GROUND! Two storeys of videos, with the action and porn upstairs TOGETHER! Sonic the Hedgehog flying a plane IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOP!
Yes, you read that right. The shop also featured a drive-thru feature for those not extreme enough to handle the assault on the senses waiting inside. I always thought about how annoying it must have been to be the drive-thru operator at Blockbuster, especially in the 90s, and despite the helpful Top 10 Hottest Movies list they had outside:
45th CUSTOMER OF THE DAY: Hmm…The Specialist! What’s that about?
BLOCKBUSTER GUY: Uh…Stallone–
CUSTOMER: No. Cliffhanger! What’s that one about?
BLOCKBUSTER GUY: Kill me.
These days, it’s pretty standard shoeshop fare inside. Even the floor TVs are gone. They went to a lot of effort to paint over things, but clearly only in the areas they knew the customers would be. Blockbusters everywhere are disappearing rapidly as the video shop ice age sets in. Rivers on the other hand are set for life – people will always need terrible looking ties.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 