Lunch in Newtown

We knew we were getting closer to Newtown when the proportion of people with piercings started to noticeably escalate. Home to university students, musicians, yuppies, and many gays and lesbians, Newtown, located about 5km south west of downtown Sydney, is one of the city’s funkiest districts.

Newtown is not somewhere you’ll ever see on a postcard. No white sandy beaches, no harbour views. But it is a great place to eat – it has scores of cafes and restaurants – many of which fall into the ‘cheap and cheerful’ category. The most popular style is Thai, but there’s also plenty of Vietnamese, Indian, Vegetarian, and others. We opted for a cafe/juice bar which served big helpings of food, which with drinks and coffees came to about $20 per person.

Afterwards we went for a wander along King St - there are plenty of bookshops and an art cinema as well, so it’s easy to kill some time. It’s also a great place to people watch, and as many of the local people are gay there’s plenty to watch.

Nightlife for the local gay community centred on the Newtown Hotel on King St (which ceased trading in November this year) and the Imperial Hotel, (which closed on September the 8th for renovations for approximately 3-6 months)

The Imperial is also known for its drag shows (you may have seen it in the movie Pricilla – Queen of the Desert), and is low-attitude, friendly places, catering mainly to gay men.

Newtown doesn’t have the speedos and bare chests of Bondi beach or the night clubs of Darlinghurst, but if you want to see Sydney gays in one of their natural habitats, put on a tight black t-shirt, polish your pierced bits, and go check it out. It can be reached by bus or train from the city, or by a short taxi ride from Oxford St.