Sydney: History and controversy cross paths

Kings Cross is officially home to 12 sex shops, 15 brothels, six unlicensed strip clubs and one table-top club with a liquor licence. Photo / NSW Tourism

There weren't any hookers on street corners when we walked through Sydney's red light district, Kings Cross. I had no plans to engage one, you understand, but I was a little disappointed just the same.

I've always enjoyed the story my father used to tell of how, in his 70s, he got propositioned while waiting outside a shop in the Cross where my mother was buying a souvenir. He responded: "No, but thank you very much for thinking I might be capable of it."

Unfortunately the skies were bucketing with rain and all the hookers - there must be quite a few because Kings Cross is officially home to 12 sex shops, 15 brothels, six unlicensed strip clubs and one table-top club with a liquor licence - were sensible enough to be sheltering indoors.

Still, there were a couple of premises which had red lights outside glowing in the gloom - a tradition which apparently began when sailors from the nearby port used to leave their lanterns outside so they could be found if their ships had to leave suddenly.

The neon signs advertising Porky's, Showgirls, Stripperama and Okaybirds were shining brightly - they have to be because they've got heritage protection.

And, despite the appalling weather, the place was still alive with marvellous stories - of showbusiness stars and gangsters, gang battles and famous police raids, murders and love affairs.

Much of the Cross's chaotic past is these days recorded for all to see in giant plaques on the footpaths, but my wife and I and a couple from San Francisco had the added benefit of being guided through the sites by Tina from Bounce Walking Tours.

Surprisingly, Tina explained, in Sydney's early years this area was set aside for the mansions of the rich and powerful, and she took us to one of the few survivors of that time, the magnificent Tusculum House built in 1931, these days housing the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (as well as a ghost in a nurse's uniform).

We read the story, embedded in the footpath at the corner of Kellett St and Bayswater Rd, of the vicious razor battle there in 1929 between the gangs of rival sly-grogging and prostitution bosses Kate Leign and Tilly Devone.

At the actual crossroads from which the area takes its name - it was originally Queen's Cross but was renamed in 1905 in a belated tribute to King Edward VII - we admired the beautiful Alamein Fountain commemorating the World War II battle in which a lot of Aussies and Kiwis, including my Dad, played their part.

We gazed through the rain at the Garden Island Naval Base, which during the war housed over 1500 American GIs, whose presence played a key role in the area's development as the drug and prostitution centre of the country.

We looked longingly into the warm, dry interior of the Piccolo Cafe, possibly the first coffee shop in Australia when it opened in 1950, still doing a brisk trade and illustrating how Kings Cross has often been a social trailblazer.

We stood in the rain outside the old Sheraton Hotel where the Beatles stayed in 1964; we sneaked into the grand foyer of the former Chevron Hotel across the road, where the Rolling Stones stayed in 1969 and Marianne Faithfull overdosed on heroin; and best of all - because my wife is a Frank Sinatra groupie - we saw the Boulevard Hotel where ol' blue eyes called a stroppy female journalist "a two-dollar whore".

We followed the trail of the Cross's most notorious murder, the 1975 disappearance of journalist Juanita Nielsen, who had led a campaign to stop the area being redeveloped.

We hovered cautiously at the doorway of a sex shop on Darlinghurst Rd and heard how it was one of several raided by the police on St Valentines Day 2007 when over 60,000 obscene DVDs were seized.

We thought about putting in an offer for Misty's, a famous brothel which for many years operated next door to a Catholic girls' school, convent and church, but in a landmark case was ordered to close two years ago and is now for sale for $3.2 million.

There was lots more to be seen, but the rain kept falling, so my wife and I gave up the offer of a pint at the Kings Cross Hotel and went back to our hotel to dry out. That also meant, of course, that I missed out on a final chance to be propositioned like my Dad. But I'm sure the hookers aren't going anywhere ... and I'll be back.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Air New Zealand offers over 50 non-stop flights every week from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to Sydney, with connections available from all around New Zealand.

Where to stay: The Grace Hotel, an Art Deco hotel in the heart of Sydney, is an easy walking distance from most attractions.

Kings Cross: Bounce Walking Tours offer several guided tours of including one of Kings Cross.

Further information: For general information see sydneyaustralia.com

Jim Eagles explored Kings Cross with help from Air New Zealand and Tourism NSW.