Unraveling History

The area in which I live is called Potts Point. My Australia tour book describes it as a tree-lined, Victorian neighborhood where one can find the perfect coffee, wonderful cafes and charming boutiques. It's perfect for me! Just around the corner and down the street, where Macleay Street turns into Darlinghurst Road, there's Kings Cross - which once was the "red light" district and is still admittedly a 'bit' edgy but not dangerous at all.


Kings Cross has a history of at times being the seedy underground of Sydney. Each decade took on a different theme -- it's been filled over the years with everything from Bohemian shops to secret gambling spots, sex shops and brothels, and now hostiles and internet cafes. 


My favorite spot in Potts Point to eat and hang and enjoy a glass of wine is called LL Wine & Dine. It's a tiny restaurant (or so I thought) on the small alleyway street called Llankelly Place behind my flat, and was probably more considered Kings Cross in the past. LL's is owned by 3 brothers who took over the spot when the sex book shop went out of business (natch). I learned tonight that as they gutted it for renovation, they discovered a hidden history.


Upstairs, on one side, they broke through a concrete wall and found 35 bags filled with vintage magazine prints that now line the wall downstairs. Behind the front bar in the tiny hall towards 2 back dining rooms (that I didn't know were there until tonight) tucked into the ceiling corner, there's the original light up sign - "Ecstasy" - for the book shop that was once there. Around the corner, you walk into a room where there are actually 2 tiny dining rooms (3-4 tables each), one raised up some stairs and one lowered into the floor down some steps. It was once a steel-enforced secret gambling spot with an emergency button to shut everyone in, or out, depending on who you were -- and a secret passageway led people in and out. Back out past the kitchen, there is a door that leads down a secret staircase, that itself leads to a small stream that chases its way all the way from Sydney Harbour through Potts Point and Kings Cross into other suburbs of Sydney. Imagine what these walls have seen over the years....


Oh, and tonight, I saw my new friends Jeff (the photoeditor) and Sam (the bartender who is is also a way cool chic). Sam made me an amazing dirty martini. She muddled the olives and used a vodka called 42 Below from New Zealand. (42 is the latitude in NZ for where the vodka is made.) It was yummy. My new friends are really nice and it's great to have a place to hang in the 'hood.


And to top it all off, I skyped with mom, dad, and Fletcher tonight!
xo