Arnold
CibbuanoBalmain, NSW
November 15th 2007 01:33
I recently moved out to Balmain, so I can definitely attest to the beauty and charm of the suburb. It's geographically very close to the CBD, as the crow flies, but terribly far on foot.
It used to be a rough part of the city, all industry and dock workers, with seedy bawdy houses and pubs all lined up with rough working class men. It's a notorious part of the city, with its own quotations, such as:
"You can take the boy out of Balmain, but you can't take Balmain out of the Boy"
and
"Balmain boys don't cry"
Now, it's become a gentrified suburb, with its close proximity to the city making it a perfect suburb for young professionals to invade and raise the local property rates. Finding an apartment in Balmain was damn hard - we had to attack the realtors like ninjas on parade.
The benefits were worth it, though. It's got a village-feel, with frequent buses to the Sydney CBD. We're a little far from the beach, unfortunately, but it's a small price to pay for our gorgeous views over the bay to the CBD. The air's a little fresher, the people a little Westier, and the main street, Darling Street, is packed with restaurants and cafes.
The local footy team is the Wests Tigers, a merging of the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies. The local colours can be seen all over the suburb, especially when the team is doing well.
Due to the influx of money and youth, the pubs in the area have clued into the new scene, and have renovated to show a prettier, trendier face. Someone told me that there were 28 pubs in the suburb, a huge number considering how small the Balmain Peninsula really is.
On the weekends, a huge number of visitors come into Balmain to feast on the markets, the pubs, the cafes and the feel of the suburb. As a new resident, I'm happy to finally scowl at the influx of people... I used to be one, now I'm on the other side of the fence.
*the first image is from Wikipedia and the second is from this flickr page
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