Eve and Pearl Street, Erskineville on Monday, 11 May 2020
Somewhere in the City, 2003
Eve Street is part of the new apartment complex which once was Ashmore Industrial Estate. I know the name from my old map. I saw one side of this new complex from Victoria Street in Erskineville just recently.
I don't remember the name of the street where I took photos of old industrial buildings in this area many years ago. The Ashmore estate looks as if it was much bigger, and it was probably securely fenced in. Further down from Eve Street is Pearl Street. It must be new, not listed in my old street directory. One building has an old photo of working-class women and children on their front porch enlarged and imprinted on a perforated metal fence and garage door.
A row of the old terraces in Eve Street is still standing, looking a bit lost. A dilapidated timber house is leaning against the self-proclaimed luxury estate The Secret Garden. Nevertheless, the old house has a satellite dish on its roof. You have to know where your priorities lie. I watch a man taping a poster to a lamp post. It’s about a lost cat. I feel sad for him.
While preparing this blog for posting now in January 2021, I am still thinking about the photos I took in 2003 somewhere around this area. I finally dig them out and can decipher a company name on one of the factory walls. It's Brightwell Transport and they still exist in Coulson Street, just around the corner from Eve Street. One of the photos kickstarted my project Night Cruise. I named it Somewhere in the City. Interesting that these buildings are still there. The other photo was taken through my car windscreen and includes the opposite side of the street. It shows a long building with a row of windows, no doors on that side. Whatever it was, it’s now gone and replaced by apartment blocks.
View from the railway bridge to 'Brightwell Transport’ in Coulson Street, January 2021
From the series ‘Night Cruise’, 2003