Name-calling, ball-eating, wall-painting Inner Westies
Leichhardt Council is considering updating two historic structures in their area for commercial lease – the cottage in Elkington Park, and the “Pump House” on the forshore of Iron Cove. The former is being proposed as a sight for a café and possibly a museum dedicated to Dawn Fraser, while the Pump House may be moonlighting as a facility for short-term ‘Pop-Up’ stores.
An unnamed lane between 90 and 92 Station Street in Newtown will be anonymous no more! Providing access to the back of shop-fronts on King St, such as ‘Buttons Great And Small’ and Camden Villa Café, the lane has been deemed too important by Marrickville Council to continue without a title. The proposed cognomen is ‘Gentle Lane’ after a wealthy bricklayer and developer Josiah Gentle, who was responsible for the majority of buildings surrounding the back street.
A certain Polpetteria (meatball maker) located near the perennially packed out Cow and Moon has started to drag in the crowds of late. Seemingly cashing in on a very good pun, ‘Ballers’ is a food-bar that sells meatballs by the three and where meatballs are the staple of every meal they serve. Luckily for ball lovers, cultural cringe is tasteless; meatballs hit the height of hipster cool in the boroughs of New York, sadly, around four years ago. In fact, the polpetteria format has been a global phenomenon and a successful import to the fussiest ball eater of all, Italia, where you can find one in most major cities.
The famous ‘I have a dream’ mural in Newtown, and the adjacent mural ‘We have dreaming’, completed by local artists Blak Douglas and Jeff Faraday, are being reviewed for heritage listing. The unauthorized ‘I have a dream’ mural, featuring the face of Martin Luther King, was completed in 1991 by artists Juilee Pryor and Andrew Aitken in one night. The Aboriginal Flag was added by the artists 18 months later, and remains 14 years on.
