Wave of new small bars and businesses driven by the young bring a new zest to the city
A CITY that once seemed wrapped up in, and was almost defined by, a cloak of conservatism is changing. And the change is being led by a younger generation.
IT’S FRIDAY evening in Adelaide. Not so early that the last shards of daylight still linger in the sky, but neither is it too late to be dangerous. The cold notes of winter hang in the air but people are rugged up and making their way through a city that somehow feels and looks a little different than it did even a few years ago.
It’s a difference that’s most obvious, and been most remarked on, around Leigh St and Peel St in the CBD. Once mostly ignored conduits that guided people between Currie St and Hindley St, they are now the most visible presence of a new culture that has settled easily in Adelaide.
At the bottom end of Leigh St, in a building that used to be a Flight Centre, sits Udaberri, a bar that became a marker for all who followed. With its long, narrow bar, exposed beams and intimate atmosphere it attracted immediate attention when it opened three years ago.
The bar was created by friends Rob Dinnen and Rowan Edwards. When they started, Dinnen was 32 and Rowan 27. Their success with Udaberri encouraged other like-minded South Australians to take the plunge and start a business.
The result has been a profusion of new bars, coffee shops, restaurants, winemakers, food trucks, brewers, specialty retail, sometimes popping up in unexpected nooks and crannies.
A city that once seemed wrapped up in, and was almost defined by, a cloak of conservatism is changing. And the change is being led by a younger generation. A generation that perhaps not too long ago would have fled interstate or overseas to seek their fortune. And counter-intuitively this is happening at a time when the state’s economic fortunes have rarely seemed so bleak.
Dinnen laughs when asked who the customers were in the early days of a bar that has been themed around his own experiences of working in Spain.
“There was a great Twitter post right when we first opened that said Udaberri was the hipsters versus the lawyers battling for dominance,’’ he says.
Ah,the hipster. A much maligned group in some quarters and while definitions are elusive the first rule of being a hipster is: Never admit to being one.
According to Urban Dictionary, hipsters “are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s who value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter”.
Beards are common. Among the men anyway. Clothes with that op-shop look. Both genders. There is also an obsession with being “authentic”. A tendency to seek out the organic, the hand-made and the local. Then there are the single-speed bicycles, the sausage dogs, the obscure bands, the rolled-up jeans and the big glasses. Nothing mainstream allowed. They are kind of like hippies for the modern era. Just better dressed.
But if it’s true the hipsters are changing Adelaide that also suggests something else.
For generations our youngest and brightest have left town. Some come back. Most disappear forever.
A glance at stats from the ABS doesn’t yet reflect any great migratory return but the word from people such as Dinnen and Edwards suggests, at least anecdotally, that change is upon us.
“There was always the perception that if you wanted to do something the framework was just a bit lacking here,’’ Dinnen says. “That’s changing really quickly. It’s a pretty optimistic time.’’
Edwards agrees. “It’s good to hear about people sticking around more or even coming back. Saying ‘Maybe, we can make something work here’.’’
Edwards and Dinnen are important to the story for a number of reasons. For being early movers, but also because they sparked a change in legislation to make it easier for others to emulate them.
Initially, the pair applied for a special circumstances licence for the bar, realising a hotel licence was out of reach. But $40,000 of legal fees later their application was rejected as not fitting the criteria. They then applied for the less onerous entertainment licence and were granted that.
It was a worrying time. Dinnen admits to a “few grey hairs’’.
“We had burnt the boats, there was no way back. We had done just about all the fit out so we had to keep going.’’
The travails of Udaberri prompted the State Government to become involved. Attorney-General John Rau was in Udaberri, struck up a conversation and was told the whole story: the legal costs, the objections from competing businesses, which had added expense and time, and when they did finally win the licence the onerous and unnecessary conditions that were attached to it.
“It was purely and simply a deep-pocketing exercise by people who held existing licences to stop competition,’’ Rau says.
So the government introduced a new licence especially for small bars. It defined a small bar as one holding fewer than 120 people. Easier, cheaper and quicker, it removed the requirements demanded under other licences such as providing meals or entertainment. It would remove the ability for competitors to object.
The Australian Hotels Association was aghast. It even commissioned a survey trying to prove Adelaideans believed there were already too many drinking establishments in the CBD. The Liberal Party also for a while railed against the concept and tried to limit small bar capacity to 80 people.
But once passed, the legislation opened the floodgates. Names such as Clever Little Tailor, Hains & Co, Chihuahua, La Rambla, Proof, all opened in the near vicinity.
When the Lady Burra microbrewery opened in the previously unloved Topham Mall in June, it became the 50th small bar to be granted a licence in little more than two years.
Topham Mall has become another marker for change. It has been tarted up, cheered up by city council initiative Splash Adelaide. The dirty-grey feel was replaced by splashes of colour and new shops were started by younger business people looking to capitalise on the 15,000 people a day who use the thoroughfare.
Across Currie St from Lady Burra, and a stone’s throw along Leigh St from Udaberri, is Josh Baker’s Coffee Branch.
Five years ago, aged 29, Baker was already a veteran of the hospitality industry. While working at the Leigh St institution Rigoni’s he would glance across the street at a building he thought would be perfect for a coffee shop.
Like many of his generation, Baker had travelled to Melbourne, seen its laneway culture, and wondered if something like that could work in Adelaide.
“I kept looking across the road at this place and I was like ‘It’s got to work’,’’ he says. “It had that chic look about it. It was long and skinny and off a little laneway.
“I always had that feeling that Leigh St could be like Melbourne in a way – that laneway sort of thing.’’
Baker also had something else working for him. Five years ago, Leigh St was far from the beaten track. Not many businesses were clamouring for space in the street, meaning it was a good time to snap up a lease.
Baker is generous in his praise for George Ginos, whose family company owns much of Leigh St, for his support in helping him get the business started.
Like his mates down the street, Baker now also has an interest in a small bar, Clever Little Tailor on Peel St, another coffee shop in Regent Arcade called Larry & Ladd and is building the Pink Moon Saloon on Leigh St in a 3m gap between two buildings.
It’s a flurry of activity based on Baker’s optimistic view of the future. A view that perhaps he didn’t hold before he started Coffee Branch.
“Why has it changed? There are people doing business at a younger age, there are people following their dreams and their passions and making it come true.
“They’re giving it a go because they are seeing that change is happening.’’
But this whirl of activity has to be about more than just a change in legislation.
There is no doubt some of it can be traced to that dreaded word.
“I hate the word hipster, but thank God for the hipster because the hipsters for some reason just love quality,” says Baker. “If it’s a well-made pair of pants, a well-made bag, the best sandwich using the best flour, the best bread, the coffee beans, the drinks. They love quality.’’
Speak to any of the new breed of entrepreneurs and the phrase “have a go’’ is commonly used. Another common theme is this change started to be noticed around five years ago.
Stuart Duckworth, the 27-year-old part-owner of the Little Miss bars on Grenfell St and the Royal Croquet Club traces the change back to the global financial crisis.
Duckworth’s hypothesis is the GFC raised fears about job and financial security. It didn’t necessarily mean people would spend less money, but they would choose more wisely what they would spend it on.
“I’d suggest there’s not less money out there, there’s the exact same amount of money if not more, but what has happened is people are less willing to spend their money on something of lesser quality,’’ he says.
The increasing connectedness of Adelaide to the rest of the world has also helped. Cheap airfares interstate and overseas, the ubiquity of the internet has shown what the rest of the world has to offer.
“You can get products at the drop of a hat from half way across the globe,’’ says Duckworth. Which leads to people to ask ‘Why isn’t the local offering as good?’’’
The first version of Little Miss also applied for a special circumstances licence. Like Udaberri before them, they found plenty of obstacles from existing pubs worried about this new competition. In Duckworth’s case it was a series of objections from the now-defunct Stag Hotel on East Tce.
But Duckworth’s view is the more the merrier. He would like more bars and shops to open in the East End to try to match the precinct that has built in the city’s west.
“If we don’t have these new offerings, the market becomes stale and those customers who do frequent the bricks and mortars or the pubs on a regular basis will stop doing that. They’ll stop going out.’’
The rejuvenation of the CBD, however, has been about much more than just bars and booze.
Take the case of jeweller Sarah Rothe. Rothe finished her studies in 2006 and earned residencies at the JamFactory as well as one in China. She was a regular in markets such as Bowerbird and had a studio in Gawler Place. People noticed her work. One of her pieces was presented to then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she visited Adelaide in 2012.
But the idea of her own shop seemed out-of-reach until Renew Adelaide started its program of finding empty shops and filling them with tenants on the basis that they pay no rent.
One of Renew Adelaide’s projects has been Regent Arcade, which runs between Rundle Mall and Grenfell St. It’s an elegant thoroughfare, a place generations of Adelaideans associated with going to the cinema, but which had since fallen quiet.
Again working with the Ginos family, Renew Adelaide, sought tenants for six vacant shops in the arcade. Social media was important in the process, with Renew using Facebook to call for expressions of interest for the sites.
Rothe was successful and moved in towards the end of July last year. She admits it was appealing because “there was not too much commitment or too much money to fork out’’. She also concedes that, like many others, until this opportunity arose she thought she would have to move to Sydney or Melbourne to pursue her dream.
As with all Renew tenancies Rothe started with a 30-day rent-free rolling lease. This means you pay no rent but you can be kicked out with only 30 days’ notice.
“It’s really, really helped my business,’’ she says. “It’s taken it to the next step.’’ Now, she is hoping to negotiate a full-time, commercial lease, a step she may not have taken otherwise.
Lily Jacobs was a lawyer who was doing some volunteer work at Renew in its early days as a grassroots arts organisation but became its first paid chief executive as it expanded. Renew is funded by an amalgam of the Adelaide City Council and the State Government. In only a few years it has gone from managing two or three properties a year to as many as 40.
Echoing Rothe, Jacobs says the ethos behind Renew is allowing people to have a crack. “Just shifting that mentality of just being able to try something and start something. It doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. You can try it and it fails, who cares? You can try again.’’
Another of Renew’s customers are David Apps and Brad Cameron, both in their early 30s, who run the very cool Ancient World nightclub, which is discreetly tucked around the back of a lane just off Hindley St.
Ancient World lives in a space that had been abandoned for seven years. Just finding the place for the first time is an adventure, and adds to the appeal, but Apps and Cameron didn’t plan it that way.
The front door which fronts Hindley St was ruled out for safety reasons as there was no landing at the top of the steep staircase. But as with so many of their other colleagues they improvised and improved. Now Cameron says “there is something fun about discovering something that doesn’t seem to be there’’.
Neither had experience in running nightclubs. Apps worked as a researcher at Adelaide University and Cameron was a sleep technician, but they begged favours, asked advice and took the plunge.
Now, they are a venue for live music, for DJs, even for comedy and a maths lecture. Apps says none of it would have been possible without the small bar licence. “It’s good for the city to have a little bit less restriction,’’ he says. “There’s no shortage of people wanting to do really interesting stuff in this city.
“The city definitely feels like it’s in a better position than it has been in for a while.’’
Apps has been so encouraged by the experience that last month he quit his uni job to devote all his energies to Ancient World.
“It’s a bit of a jump without a safety net,’’ he concedes. “It’s really a matter of wanting to push myself and see what happens.’’
The rise of these new businesses has also helped others take a leap. Taras Ochota is a winemaker who lives and works in Basket Range in the Adelaide Hills. For years he worked for other people, both in Australia and in Europe, but now devotes himself to building his own brand – Ochota Barrels.
It’s a boutique operation. Ochota makes all the wine himself, about 1500 dozen a year, and has a philosophy about his product that deviates from many in the industry. Ochota has a thing for grenache, and five years ago when he tried to sell it he was told “Why don’t you add some shiraz to it and call it shiraz-grenache… in fact why don’t you make shiraz?”
But that was then. There is now a demand for Ochota’s winemaking technique, which he describes simply as finding “fresh healthy grapes and turning them into fresh healthy wine’’.
“Now, there’s craft beer and more artisan wine makers, and people are a bit more concerned about the environment and what’s in the food and what’s in the wine,’’ he says. “It’s not just factory-made, bulk sort of stuff, it’s really hand-crafted artisan products.’’
So today, Ochota’s wine is in many of the small bars, and his fame is spreading further than Adelaide. When The Rolling Stones were in Adelaide last year, Mick Jagger spent five hours at the winery, tasting wine and singing songs on the piano
“It was a lovely experience,’’ Ochota says.
Ochota also has a wine project called A Sense of Compression with Maynard James Keenan from the rock band Tool and flies to Arizona to help him make wine.
Many of those interviewed admit a sense of surprise about the change in Adelaide in the past five years, but while the developing face of the city, as driven by a new generation, has given extra vigour to the city, it can’t yet mask the ongoing economic decline in SA.
While 50 small bars have opened and would have created a few hundred jobs, it hasn’t matched the continuing drop in other, older parts of the economy, which has pushed the state’s unemployment to 8.2 per cent, the highest in the nation.
Standing at the Lady Burra bar, glass of beer in hand, Premier Jay Weatherill acknowledges the dichotomy and concedes the rise of this new culture is not enough on its own to save a struggling economy. But he believes it is another ingredient that will help bring people to the state.
“This is an example of something that’s growing and creating jobs,’’ he says. He also hopes it will add to the package that includes an ease of lifestyle and still relatively cheap housing to bring people to the state.
“You have to have a great job as well as a great place to bring up kids and a buzzy city you can dip into.’’
The question remains though. Is this a bubble? Has the city permanently shifted its mindset or will we retreat to our normal, quiet selves?
One of the first signs of a new energy in the city was the sudden appearance of food trucks on our streets. Vans such as Burger Theory started a trend that saw many others pile into the industry.
Like the small bars, traditional cafes and restaurants were nervous about the competition, but after the initial buzz of controversy it seems to have settled down.
It was Joe Noone, a public servant, who started the idea of bringing the city’s food trucks together in one place after responding to an invitation from Splash Adelaide to send in ideas to add life to the city. Noone had seen the food trucks in operation in the US and submitted the concept that became food truck gathering Fork in the Road.
Noone believes what has been done, can’t be undone, “I’d like to think you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
Gen wise
1 Jaimie Sortino,
fashion designer
THIS 26-year-old looks the goods and makes sure locals do, too. The couturier crafts gowns worn by the likes of Delta Goodrem and The Block’s Alisa and Lysandra at red-carpet events. His new collection focuses heavily on bold, whimsical embellishments and ball gowns inspired by the rich colour palette of sunsets in the Adelaide Hills.
“I’m starting to branch my label into the international market, which has been both challenging and rewarding,” he says. “The highlight of this year is putting together my first solo showcase to launch the collection in September.”
Sortino, who has plans to move to Los Angeles, says he loves Adelaide’s close-knit creative scene. “Adelaide designers are so supportive of each other. A lot of us went through TAFE together and it’s great to see everyone have success at different levels.” Sortino is usually accompanied by his dachshund Junior and can be found relaxing over a beverage at The Flying Trunk, The Gallery, Lotus Lounge, Madame Hanoi and 2KW.
@jaimie_sortino, jme_sortino@yahoo.com.au
2 Rosyn Murphy,
graphic designer
Former country girl Rosyn Murphy is part of the new breed chasing creative dreams in the city. Murphy relocated from Mount Gambier in 2008 to hone her skills at university and now works on websites, mobile apps, printed materials and ad campaigns at digital agency Fusion. “I love the digital world because it’s always growing and changing,” she says.
Murphy, 25, likes to get crafty, too. She and Renee Diamani (pictured) have big plans for a retail space in Semaphore. “Local products, food, wine, workshops and all wrapped up in one basket. I won’t give away too much at this stage but we look forward to revealing it to Adelaide soon.”
Socially it’s all about a late-night boogie at Supermild. “I’m always wondering off down alleys to try out the new little bars. Thrift Shop Bar (pictured) and Hains & Co are my latest loves. Howling Owl always has a place in my heart – I will get through their entire list of gins one day.” fusion.com.au
3 Renee Damiani,
jewellery designer
Thirty-year-old Renee Damiani has a thing for bling. She cut her creative teeth during a studio tenancy at the JamFactory and now designs and creates bright, bold, head-turning jewellery in her Seaton home studio.
When she’s not crafting, she’s hunting down food trucks. “I’m a big foodie, so things usually revolve around food for me! I love to find funky little hidey-hole bars. Peel and Leigh St are great,” she says.
“Fringe is my favourite time of year as there are so many quirky pop-up bars and good eats. The Croquet Club was a favourite during summer last year. On the weekends, I look forward to a big Sunday breakfast. I recently fell in love with Mister Sunshine’s at Thebarton. A favourite weekend place is Swedish Tarts at Semaphore and Red Door Bakery is also big on the lunch list. If I’m feeling really naughty I’ll go to Burger Theory.” reneedamiani.com.au
4 Koral, musician
When recording her debut album Nocturnes, Koral worked with some of the best talent in town. That’s why she stays. “Adelaide breeds intrinsically creative people and really nifty people. They’re crafty… they get around not having much money, not having much industry and still manage to create cool things. Look at Sam Wright and the festivals he puts on, look at The Mill (art space and studios), Magazine Gallery and Australian Fashion Labels… they’ve managed to make Adelaide work for them in creative ways.” koral.band
5 Andrius Tomas Laurinaitis, entrepreneur
Well-groomed Andrius Tomas Laurinaitus, 27, opened Tether The Store in Regent Arcade early this year as part of a Renew Adelaide project. “The opportunity for growth is what keeps me in Adelaide,” he says. The ability to have a new small business within the heart of Adelaide alongside entrepreneurs who face similar hurdles is unheard of in most major cities.”
Hipster culture drives a lot of business through his doors. “It does have an effect on our clientele and in a positive way. We source and stock local and ethical products, which goes hand in hand with the social and cultural movement. A number of our homewares are made with up-cycled materials, such as reclaimed timbers and recycled leathers by local artists and designers. The idea of creating new out of old, the choice to use natural and local and most importantly the ability to leave a minimal eco footprint is a great direction to be taking and we hope the hipster culture continues to evolve.” Shop 32, Regent Arcade, city, facebook too/TetherTheStore
6 Daniel Soulidis, model
It’s amazing what a decent crop of facial fuzz can do for a man. Daniel Soulidis was working in Myer’s men’s clothing department in the city when he was approached 18 months ago about his first modelling job. “It fell into my lap really... it started when I grew a beard. I’m quite hairy.” He laughs. “I grew a beard because my mates can’t!”
The 23-year-old’s Serbian/Macedonian roots make for good genes (and follicles). He recently signed to Finesse Modelling Agency and his Instagram account attracts attention from beard lovers worldwide. When Soulidis is not tending to his impressive ‘mo’ he can be found cooking up a vegan storm, shopping for vintage treasures or adding Thomas Codd (London) pieces to his wardrobe.
“I grew up listening to punk music and watching James Dean, Clark Gable, Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando, so I like the dapper look.” Watch this face. finessemodels.com.au, Instagram @dan_ps22
7 Amanda Grace Nash,
hair and make-up artist
Colourful, eclectic, edgy, feminine, fun… meet diminutive Amanda Grace Nash, the make-up artist turning heads with her deft hand and eye for detail. Career highlights include working with Barry Humphries for Adelaide Cabaret Festival, body painting Grace Jones for her recent Modulations tour and exhibiting at a Raw Adelaide showcase which led to her winning the Rawards Adelaide Make-up Artist of the Year 2014. Her unique style and ‘paintwork’ is highly sought after.
“I stay in Adelaide because I adore it. I enjoy the six degrees of separation — going anywhere and running into someone you know. There was temptation to move on to Melbourne or Sydney, but having now established myself and my business — I couldn’t imagine leaving. Plus Adelaide is really starting to get interesting — why would you jump off the ride just as it starts to get really good?”