A visit to Kings Cross is always guaranteed to be entertaining. You can arrive on any day of the week, at any time of day or night and you’re always going to stumble across something that draws your attention. Often, whatever it is that’s caught your attention happens to stumble across you in a literal sense. But one thing that’s certain about Kings Cross is just when you think you’ve defined the area and the crowd it attracts, you’ll visit again and find your theory is thrown out the window.
To test this idea and see if other’s feel the same way, I did a Google search on Kings Cross and found the following quotes:
- Kings Cross is a wild mixture of prostitution and crime, with stylish restaurants and hotels. Australian Explorer.
- Here in a mixture of charm and sleaze -- tawdry shops and trendy bars, cheap rooms and classy hotels, corner takeaways and colorful bistros -- is a place that can quite easily be one of continuing amazement. Go Australia.
- Kings Cross continually reinvents itself, with new restaurants, bars and entertainment venues opening up all time. Sydney.com
The quote from Australian Explorer is by far my favourite, only after my visit to the Cross on the weekend, I’d add an extra line: Kings Cross is a wild mixture of prostitution and crime, with stylish restaurants and hotels, families and their pets, politicians and drag queens.
This was the scene I stumbled upon as I arrived at the 2009 Kings Cross Festival on Sunday. As I walked towards Fitzroy Gardens, revellers were emerging from nightclubs, bleary eyed and no doubt feeling super-seedy at seeing so many sprightly people about bright and early.
Walking in, I could hear over the loud speaker that we were arriving just in time to watch the festival dog show. The pooches were lined up with their owners, awaiting the call of the MC, a glamorous drag queen dressed as a Stepford Wife no less, to invite them on stage to strut their stuff. Pooches of all sizes, colours and shapes twirled around the stage, some more obediently than others (if you were there I’m referring to the pooch that decided to do it’s business on stage – definitely not Best in Show this year) as the judges prepared to make their decision and award the cutest pooch.
Of course, being the Kings Cross Dog Show, not just anyone was invited to judge the contest. And thus it was here that I found Malcolm Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition, judging the dog show with his wife Lucy. Judging by the picture on his website posing with the family pooches, the Turnbulls are clearly dog lovers but it was certainly a surprise to find them at the festival and proving once again that you just never know who you’ll see in the Cross.
I’m not sure which pooch ended up winning because I was distracted by a fluffy little dog standing beside me, perhaps looking on with pageant envy, but for reasons that will soon be apparent. This little one was rugged up for the cool autumn morning and won me over with a stylish jumper that read “I LOVE SYDNEY.”
Moving on from the dog contest, the Festival was brimming with people keen to sample food and drink from local businesses who had set up stands for the day. Gazebo Wine Garden was there, Sugarmill and Jimmy Liks too. There was even a giant seafood paella being cooked which judging by the queue was in high demand. Sometimes though, it’s the simplest things that win me over and this year it was the Darlinghurst Public School stand. I was drawn to the huge array of brightly coloured cupcakes and lollies like I was back in school and we were at the fete. Chatting to the ladies working at the stall I discovered everything had been cooked by the parents in order to raise money for the school. Good ol community spirit at its best.
So once again, I found myself surprised and intrigued after visiting Kings Cross. It was fantastic to watch so many different groups of people, families, drag queens, locals, tourists, party goers and shop owners all gathered to celebrate the this renowned area of Sydney.
What are your favourite things about Kings Cross? Is it the nightclubs, the restaurants or just some good ol fashioned people watching? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
The Coca Cola Billboard located in Kings Cross is an interesting one.
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Posted by: Peiman-Sydneyinframe | May 10, 2009 at 11:44 PM