Massive crowds and wild nights as Sydney prepares to say goodbye to iconic late night music venue Frankie’s Pizza after 10 years
Massive crowds, wild nights, queues from 4pm, even a spot of attempted looting: last drinks near at iconic late night music venue after 10 years | See the penultimate party pictures
Confidential
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Massive crowds lining up from 4pm, wild parties and a spot of attempted looting. Sydneysiders are farewelling iconic nightspot Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice in true freak flag style.
The dive bar aesthetics, rock and roll sounds and famous $1 pizza slices have made Frankie’s a hospitality behemoth. Rock star Debbie Harry visited Frankie’s Pizza on the second ever night of trade while Priscilla Presley visited two nights in a row.
After ten years serving Sydney, the late night haunt which was home to everyone from politicians and businessmen after a late drink and a bite to stars, grungy live music devotees and those just desperate for a nightcap will close its doors on Sunday December 11th.
But the public aren’t waiting till then to show their appreciation of the venue.
Last night’s penultimate Sunday farewell party saw a line of 200 people gather at 4pm, before the doors to the Hunter St venue even opened.
“We are feeling the love in a big way,” said Jordan McDonald, the co-founder of Frankie’s.
“Our joint has always been busy, but like anyone in hospitality we have peak periods.
But since we announced the closure we’ve noticed it’s prime time from the moment we open at 4pm to the moment we close at 3.30am,” he said.
“It’s completely unprecedented. I haven’t seen this response to any venue in this town. It’s a strange time, but people are showing there love by being proactive and coming out in droves.”
One party goer joked on social media: “this final week could kill me.”
In November, the venue announced a The Final Campaign to say farewell to the venue as the location makes way for a new metro station.
“We thought this venue would outlive us. We‘ve seen trends come and go and steadfastly stood for Rock n Roll through it all,” the statement read.
McDonald said by the time they announced the closure to the public, the people involved in the venue had come to terms with the decision.
“We’d gone through the motions of grieving, we had plenty of time to absorb the information and from then it’s just been about doing Frankie’s proud,’ he said.
The group are selling 100s of Frankie’s T-shirts a day, while McDonald said there have been “a lot of attempts of theft in taking mementos.”
“There has been commentary online that the last night should be a demolition party but I’m like, ‘hell no!’ I want everyone’s last impression to be in peak performance. We’ve been a well-oiled party machine for 10 years and our last hour will be no different.”
Since the announcement, fans, like Paloma Danae, have asked if McDonald and his SwillHouse crew can just open bar somewhere else.
McDonald said he’s unsure if “lightning can strike twice” when it comes to recreating Frankie’s at some other point in time.
“The world is changing a little and the last thing I would ever want to see if is a diluted version of Frankie’s,’ he said.
But he does hope that there is a commemorative plaque at the new metro station saying on the site of the venue that reads, “The x marks the spot of the greatest pizza parlour that ever was.
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