Sideshow Alleys
Now
Is Sydney all body, no heart? Her city centre, so teeming and choked on weekdays, empties at night and on weekends due to a dearth of unique, intimate venues and the lack of a central circuit connecting her urban culture institutions with the natural wonders of her harbour and parks.
Future
The City of Sydney is reviewing 20 city laneways they believe are ripe for reinvention as small bar sites, music and club venues and homes for temporary artworks. Lord Mayor Clover Moore is fast laying the foundations for a small retail renaissance and has committed to encouraging active street frontages and reanimating the forgotten spaces of Sydney’s CBD, nominating Angel Place, Albion Place, Bulletin Place, Central Street, York Lane, Wilmont Street and Hosking Place as having strong potential for enhancing and enriching everyday life in the city. This new era has already begun. Liquor laws have been changed to accommodate smaller late night trading premises, Albion and Bulletin Place with Temperance Lane were successfully reborn as bars bearing art installations for Art & About in October, Albion Place staged the Lucky Fish photo series during Chinese New Year and Angel Place was the heart of Sydney Festival’s First Night in January, a mega-event which glimpses of Sydney as she could – and should – be.