In the Bondi area alone (including Bondi Junction), there were at least half a dozen picture theatres in operation around the 1920s, 1930s.

There were also picture theatres in neighbouring suburbs like Rose Bay and Randwick. When the Wintergarden Theatre in Rose Bay went into the hands of developers I remember feeling quite disappointed at the defeat that locals faced regarding the planned demolition of the theatre. The bulldozers came in 1987. Down went the Wintergarden and up came apartments.

There was a cinema on the corner of Hall St, O’Brien St and Glenayr Avenue and there was also the Kings Cinema at Bondi Beach, corner of Roscoe St (where I once lived) and Campbell Parade. This image of the Kings Cinema, is reproduced here with kind permission of The Mitchell Library, State Library NSW.

THEN -Kings Cinema, Corner of Campbell Parade & Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach, circa 1930s

By 1970, most of these cinemas had closed, though there were still two or three operating in Bondi Junction. I’m not sure why the cinemas closed but I suspect it may have had something to do with the advent of television and perhaps offers from developers which,at the time, were maybe too reasonable to refuse.

I can remember going to see Mary Poppins in the Metro cinema in Bondi Junction as a very young child and as a young adolescent, I remember seeing a couple of flicks at the Star Cinema, also in Bondi Junction which closed in the mid-late 1970s.

I do remember the building which was formerly the King’s Cinema at Bondi Beach but by the time I was a young girl, this cinema was no longer in operation. However at one point in the late 1970s it was used to house The Creole Disco. Of course this site (and gorgeous art deco building) was bulldozed in the ealry 1980s to make way for what else – an apartment block known as The Breakers!

NOW - The Breakers, corner of Campbell Parade and Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach

Of course today Bondi has the wonderful Westfield mulitplex, pulp cinema, to replace the old picture theatres which clearly were a “waste of space” in some people’s eyes, or prime real estate that could be capitlised upon. So now, when we want an out of home community-based screen experience, the only cinema that Bondi has to offer (apart from the seasonal outdoor film events) is the mulitplex (Event) cinema in Bondi Junction – convenient for the “drive, park and eat” lifestyle which characterises so many of our lives today. And when we get that parking spot, chow down on some food from the food hall and then collect the tickets that we’d pre-booked online, we go and lap up a flick in a cinema without character, and without cultural history.

Does anyone remember going to any of the old picture theatres in the Bondi area? or does anyone have a story to tell about any of the old cinemas? or perhaps have any photos of these now long gone buildings?

Before Bondi became a BRAND…

– you could buy pies and cream puffs from the Flying Pieman at 3.30 in the morning

– there were 3 petrol stations on Campbell Parade

– the Astra was a grungy pub renowned for being somewhere you could always score

– you’d have ‘eyeballs’ at ‘the concrete’

– you could buy shawarmas at 3.00 in the morning in Hall Street

– there were only about 3 cafes you could hang out in… The Gelato Bar , Positive Vibrations and Cafe 729 and if you travelled to Rose Bay, there was Grandfather’s Moustache

– being a Bondi fashionista meant wearing a sloppy joe

– you could go to Valissis’ and play pinnies and grab a burger and a milkshake

– the 322 bus route – which went from Rose Bay wharf to Bondi Beach – still ran and terminated at South Bondi at the entrance to Queen Elizabeth Drive

– there was a strong local and transient population of Maoris living in Bondi

– you could drive up to the Dover Heights Bowling Club late at night and take in the lights of Bondi from the Heights

– there was “unauthorised” grafitti along the walls of the promenade, which said things like “Bondi Chicks Go Off”

– you could park in the middle of Campbell Parade FOR FREE between Lamrock Avenue and Beach Rd

I would love for more to be added to this list so please go for it…

I expect that when most people think about Bondi they’re thinking of the beach area, or of the Campbell parade area. For me, “Bondi” is actually quite a large area.

Although a lot of things in this blog may be primarily concerned with the Beach area of Bondi, when I’m imagining Bondi, I‘m not just thinking about Bondi Beach. I’m referring to an area that spans beyond the beach area, and also beyond North and South Bondi.

For me, Bondi’s borders span from Dover Heights to Rose Bay to Paddington/Woollahra to Waverley to Bellevue Hill to Bronte. I know that strictly speaking this area is not exactly “Bondi” but this area is my Bondi, my stomping ground.

I’ll try and illustrate what I’m trying to say here…when I lived in Sydney’s inner west, in Newtown, for about 1 year in the early 1990s, I used to feel rather out-of sorts when I hadn’t been down to Bondi for days on end, sometimes a couple of weeks or so. I’d get a bit antsy and have to get myself over to Bondi. So I’d be driving from Newtown towards Bondi and I remember very clearly that when I reached a particular spot on the journey I would then feel like I was back in Bondi. That spot was on Birrell St heading down the hill , towards the beach, a little ways past where Waverley College stands. I’d get to that point where I could suddenly see the ocean and I’d just take in a deep breath and feel a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing I was back in Bondi.

As Dorothy said…”There’s no place like home…”

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