The Dominatrice - Centrepoint Tower

This view of the city skyline was taken from the National Art School in East Sydney. The 'structure' that dominates this skyline, dominates the city. In my title, I have called it 'Centrepoint Tower' and yet I hesitantly refer to it as a 'structure'. This is because the name keeps changing.

There are naming rights, you see. You pay enough and you get to name the structure. This sort of policy irritates me. I see the same with stadiums for football. I see the same with Grand Final winning 'cups' for football. Money speaks a powerful language, but it also speaks with forked tongue.

Centrepoint Tower has also been known as Sydney Tower, the AMP Tower, and now, Westfield Tower. I like the idea of Centrepoint Tower as I consider it situated on the central heart of European settlement of this ancient land: the point where the Tank Stream rose from a muddy swamp, where the Pitt Street Mall is today.

All views au contraire warmly welcomed.

Retailing connectivity

Revolutions are not waged on streets alone. Here in Australia, and probably elsewhere around the globe, a revolution is being waged on the shop floor for the hearts and minds of shoppers. If not their hearts and minds, then their hip-pocket will suffice.

Here are two examples of 'bricks & mortar' retailing: Zara has invaded these shores from Spain; David Jones is a home-grown enterprise since 1840. Their difference is apparent in their facade. However, it is the fact that they have a 'High Street' existance that is their challenge. They are using old techniques to woo savvy consumers. DJs has acknowledged a profit down-grade yet seems to be blaming consumers for not spending enough. Other retailers are blaming consumers for buying online after having sampled on the shop-floor. Is shopping just material acquisitiveness, or is shopping a social and psychological 'need'?

The bridge that stalks

Apropos of absolutley nothing, when I was a kid I was a fan of two comics: Caspar, the Friendly Ghost; and, Phantom, the Ghost who Walks. I thought to share that with you when concocting a title for this post, because what sprang to mind scanned perfectly with 'the ghost who walks'. As you were ...

In the inner city, everywhichway one turns, one sees either the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Centrepoint Tower. Centrepoint kapows you in the eye, whereas the bridge sneaks upon you around corners.


These shots were taken on a walkway over the still-being-renovated Pitt Street Mall. The first two shots are looking north toward the harbour, and the final shot is looking south. I was walking from Myers, across the walkway, through Westfield and then into David Jones, hunting for a pair of grey-checked Converse sneakers. Need to wear them when negotiating the jungle with Phantom and Diana.

Sunday in my City - Sydney Arcade, Take 2

Please vote for the City Daily Photo Blog May Theme Day. It is currently nip-and-tuck between Statues, Funny Signs and Construction.

The first incarnation of the Sydney Arcade (1881) was a set-square from King Street to George Street, in behind the Darrel-Lea corner. Thomas Rowe designed three arcades during the boom period of the late 19th century, the sydney Arcade in 1881, the Royal Arcade in 1882, and the Imperial Arcade in 1891. Effectively, they are all gone, with the internals of this arcade being replaced with 29 floors of office space. Telstra occupies Levels 2 to 15. The facade on the King Street frontage was retained and is the closing shot of this post.


The new Sydney Arcade arcs from King Street through to the Pitt Street Mall, on the site where I can remember going up to the Coles cafeteria on the first floor for a cheap meal when I was at Teachers' College in the late '60s. It is a pleasure to walk through, but, oh why, did we have to lose the elegance of the original?


A member of the Sunday in my City community.

Friday Flaneur (5) - Frenetic flamenco

There are two high-traffic, and therefore very profitable, busking areas within the city. One is Pitt Street Mall, the other is the Circular Quay concourse. Each requires a licence.

Flaneur (n). A person who strolls the city in order to appreciate it.

Last week Brattcat enquired whether I considered myself of the Beaudelaire or Sontag school.

Sontag maintains that The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept at the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flâneur finds the world 'picturesque'. I neither reconnoitre, stalk nor cruise. However, I do empathise and try to walk in others' shoes. On the other hand, Baudelaire was said to hold that a flaneur was a man of the people who enters into the life of his subjects with passion ... a botanist of the sidewalk. That seems closer to the mark.