K Rd red-light icon gets retail therapy

By SCOTT MacLEOD

One of Auckland's seedy icons is about to become a shopping centre.

Yesterday a Pink Pussycat Club sign was carried off its Karangahape Rd property, ending the strip joint's 40-year presence in the red light district.

Hardly anybody noticed when the building was sold to investors six weeks ago as part of a block of three buildings.

The club had been closed for years, but during its two-decade heyday it was almost synonymous with Auckland's growing sex industry. Ian Hastings, former head of Auckland police's vice squad, yesterday rated it as the first big strip club in Auckland.

"I think the name itself engendered a lot of interest in those days," he said.

"The Pink Pussycat and all that entails ... "

The owner of the Sunset Strip Club, Bernie Whyte, said the Pink Pussycat closed at least 10 years ago when strip clubs became licensed.

Yesterday he spoke fondly of the club's famous girly sign, which presided over Karangahape Rd with glowing nipples.

The club was founded in 1963 by the "king of the g-string", Rainton Hastie, with the grand sum of £60.

Mr Hastie became widely known for his frequent run-ins with the law and penchant for pink Cadillacs.

The Pink Pussycat was a booming business until the mid-1970s and was the foundation of a Hastie empire that included ventures such as the Pleasure Palace in Ponsonby Rd and the Velvet Touch massage parlours.

But his hard-won enterprises sparked death threats, vandalism, paint bombs, fire bombs and the ire of Women Against Pornography.

Mr Hastie sold the club in 1985 saying the sauna and strip industry was under pressure. Auckland, with 900,000 people, had 40 sauna parlours at a time when Brisbane, with 1.2 million, had six.

In 1987 the Leprosy Trust Board was named as a beneficiary of the club when property owner Frances Goodson died aged 84.

Board secretary Derek Douglas admitted at the time he was mystified about why his organisation was singled out.

The Karangahape Rd properties were bought six weeks ago by Samson Corporation.

Spokesman Marco Creemers said six months would be spent refurbishing the buildings.

They would be used for shops and accommodation.

"The place is pretty much under-maintained and run down by the massage industry," he said.

"There's quite a lot of damage from water ingress and illegal alterations."

The buildings were sold after a four-week campaign by real estate agents Jones Lang LaSalle.

The agents were happy to use the club's "interesting history" as a selling point.