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Kings Cross 1940s

Kings Cross 1940s

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City of Sydney Archives

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Kings Cross

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In the nineteenth century one of Sydney's most prestigious suburbs, it became home to a vibrant bohemian community and later Sydney's red light district. Named for the intersection of Darlinghurst Road, William and Victoria Streets and once called Queens Cross, the area is now a neon lit mecca for tourists and Sydneysiders.

Kings Cross Theatre

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Cinema on the corner of Darlinghurst Road and Victoria Streets at Kings Cross that opened in April 1916. Part of Frank Waddington's chain of picture houses, the cinema seated over 2000 and was described as 'particularly lavish'. A 'junior' nightclub called the Birdcage, run by radio compere Peter Bergin was open briefly in the venue in 1963 after the theatre closed, and soon replaced by John Harrigan's Surf City, that occupied the building from 1963 until 1966 when the building was demolished, to be replaced by the Crest Hotel.

Darlinghurst

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Inner suburb to the east of the city which has been home to both gentry and underclass. The former Darlinghurst Gaol is now the National Art School.

Victoria Street Kings Cross

Tree lined street of Victorian era terraces which became the epicentre of the Green Bans movement of the 1970s when developers submitted plans to gut the street and build high rise apartments.

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Darlinghurst Road

Once lined by exclusive mansions from the 1830s, the road has seen a transformation from the Bohemian atmosphere of the 1930s and 40s where the cafes and nightclubs attracted writers and artists, to the seedier side of bars and strip clubs which proliferated during wartime to entertain servicemen from nearby Garden Island. Today it is a red light district, tourist mecca and home to the desperate and the affluent.

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