What've you done to the pub?

I’d have to say that I was a little disappointed on the final day of our recent holiday as we wandered around Sydney.

It was only a minor disappointment. The kind that just takes the shine off an otherwise perfect day.

One of my long term goals has been to track down the hotel that was the setting for the 80’s Australian movie Starstruck. I knew that it was somewhere near the harbour bridge but I’d never known how to get there on my previous visits to Sydney. Thanfully the friends we were staying with in Sydney knew exactly where it was.

We found a parking spot nearby and then climbed some stairs, turned a corner and there it was. I was thrilled. After all this time (the movie was made almost 25 years ago) I was looking at the ‘Starstruck Hotel’. If you click the photo for a closer look you’ll see the grey steel structure in the top left corner of the photo. That’s part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We walked in for a quick look around. I couldn’t wait to see the huge tiled mural of the bridge that was in the movie …… but it was gone, along with a lot of the other features that I remember from the movie.

I’d imagine that seeing as the movie was made such a long time back that all those bits and pieces went years ago. I knew that Jo Kennedy wouldn’t be there but I at least expected that they would have preserved her home from the movie. I guess that things don’t stay the same forever. Oh well, maybe I just need to watch the movie again.

Have you ever experienced anything like that? I’d love you to click the comment link below this post and tell me about anything similar you’ve experienced.

Is there a place you remember as a child that didn’t shine quite so brightly when you visited it again as an adult? Is there somewhere that you’d waited a long time to see that didn’t quite turn out like you imagined?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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1 Comment

  • In the July school holidays, Craig and I were in Kalgoorlie and I wanted to visit the Federal hotel as my great Aunt had owned and managed it when I was a small child. However, upon finding it we decided against ‘checking it out’ as there was a big sign atop the entrance advertising the entertainment. Needless to say I took a couple of photos from the outside, but left it at that, rather than tarnish any ‘memories’ or ideas I may have about the place…

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