Darlinghurst morning

0830 14 November 2011, Kirketon Hotel, Darlinghurst Road, Sydney / 0930 Kings Cross & Darlinghurst / 1130 Kirketon Hotel

Ed. This piece was first published at cityofsound.com on 14 November 2011.

Kings Cross and Darlinghurst is the most Sydney bit of Sydney, perhaps. At least that kind of Sydney, anyway. The streets are small and tight, but busy with cars anyway. Cars are poured through this city as a kind of sealant, filling all available gaps. Straight off the flight through the night from Singapore, the sunlight is on full beam. It’s ridiculous. The kids are Eurasian and effortlessly hip, dressed in Sydney Skinny Black and shades, somehow slouching and taut at the same time, like slender cats skulking around the shade of the street, (black) asymmetric t-shirts, (black) strappy tops, neon-shades of flip-flop.

In between a few choice examples of faded glamour it’s scruffy as hell, and far from beautiful. It’s noisy, hot, a bit dirty, dusty, but the place feels busy, alive.

The apex of Kings Cross, under the Coke Sign, is a nasty tangle of heavy traffic from all directions, but still fairly thrilling. Ironically, as a side-effect of all these arteries converging, the built fabric suddenly drops back and the overhead opens up and the streets fall away down William Street towards city’s skyline, framed against a rich blue sky above and various strata of traffic below.