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Downtown, taken from the TV commercial.  everyone “Great skating, great music, good food and fun….It’s the greatest skate in town”.

Downtown, the Greatest Skate in Town

  “I remember my parents taking me to Downtown at night for the first time, and walking down Hindley Street and seeing all the neon lights was amazing. Roller skating was great there. We had stuff to do, what do our kids have like this”? Most people seem to remember Downtown for the roller skating […]

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Photo from Glen H  Flickr Photostream. Marion Shopping Centre in 1974 with the escalators to the Quaterdeck and John Martin's Department Store

Marion Shopping Centre. The Early Years.

Westfield Marion was one of Adelaide’s first suburban shopping centres, built in 1968 on a large expanse of land bordered by Sturt, Diagonal and Morphett Roads, Marion was not the huge, very modern, state-of-the-art shopping centre that we know today. In fact back in the early years it was a relatively small complex that I […]

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The Granite Island Chairlift, installed in 1964 and removed in 1996. Photo courtesy of Alex Prichard on Flickr

Adelaide Now’s Book Review

Adelaide Now publishes more photos and memories from “Adelaide Remember When”, the book Adelaide Now, the online edition of the Advertiser has shown some more of the photos and stories from my newly published book Adelaide Remember When. The book contains more than 300 photos of Adelaide, some never before published, from the 1950s to […]

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Photo from unknown source.  Long before the street was turned into a pedestrian mall.

When a Photo Is Worth a Thousand Words.

Remember Adelaide in the 1950s and the 1960s? The population of the city back then grew from about 500,000 in the mid-50s to almost 800,000 in 1970, an increase of 60% in just 15 years. The photo below created great discussion on the ARW Facebook page when I posted it more than 12 months ago. […]

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Photo courtesy of State Library of SA. The Grand Central Hotel in 1924, a truly magnificent building

Adelaide’s Lost Buildings

Whenever the discussion turns to beautiful old buildings that have been lost to our city over the years, the first one that comes to my mind is the South Australian Hotel which stood proudly on North Terrace for almost 100 years.  The ‘South’ opened in 1879 and represented the finer things in life. In 1964 […]

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Photo courtesy of Mary MacTavish on Flickr and from the book Adelaide Remember When".  Dazzleland’s signature attraction was Jazz Junction

What a Fabulous Adelaide Memory is Dazzeland!

Do you recall the huge two-storey indoor amusement park that occupied the top levels of the REMM Myer Centre in Rundle Mall? Dazzleland was a theme park, developed as part of the original centre itself, built between 1988 and 1991 at a cost of $1 billion. It was sold some years later for just $140 […]

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An Early Gregory's Road Map of Adelaide Suburbs including Kinedana and Coham Gardens

Adelaide’s Disappearing Suburbs

Did you grow up in an Adelaide suburb that no longer exists? It might have been Finchley Park or Washington Gardens or perhaps Little Chicago or Sassafras. Adelaide has lost many suburbs over the years when the name is changed, for one reason or other, or the suburb is swallowed up by a larger suburb. […]

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Photo from the State Library. The Metro was closed in 1975 and completely changed by Greater Union - it was painted purple and reopened as Hindley Cinemas.

Adelaide’s Lost Picture Theatres; Part Two

Metro Theatre One of the most beautiful Art Deco style buildings in Adelaide, the Metro in Hindley St, was built by MGM. It was the only MGM Metro Theatre in Australia to be equipped with fittings sent direct from the USA and was designed by noted American theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb, in association with […]

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Photo by Frank Hall. Hoyts Savoy Theatrette. I have fond memories of going there and watching the newsreels to fill in time. Note how beautiful and ornate the building was.

Adelaide’s Lost Picture Theatres; Part One

How many old picture theatres can you remember from the ‘golden era’ of when going to the pictures was a special event. I’ve already touched on the wonderful Regent Theatre in Rundle Street, now the Regent Arcade. But can you also remember the Rex or the Savoy, how about the Metro or the Majestic. Here […]

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