Secret Sydney: famed Hollywood Hotel publican’s apartment open for the first time
It’s a secret slice of Sydney punters thought was gone forever when Hollywood Hotel legend Doris Goddard died. But the pub’s new owners are preserving and showing off its history.
Confidential
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A time capsule into a secret part of Sydney’s past has opened up at a pub in Surry Hills.
Doris Goddard was a famed Sydney’s identity and the cities first female publican who lived in an apartment above her Hollywood Hotel in Surry Hills.
While Goddard was a cabaret singer and actor and had roles opposite the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Bob Hope, it was her work behind the bar of the “Hollywood”, which she bought in 1977, that became legendary.
Locals at the bohemian watering hole would grow accustomed to her whipping out her ukulele and serenade them with a tune, or several.
Among those were women, who for the first time, she allowed to sit at the bar.
Now, for the first time since her death in 2019 at the age of 89, her apartment is opened up for public viewing and coincides with an art exhibition paying tribute to her life.
Hooray for Hollywood is a group art exhibition across the entire first floor of the hotel, containing original works from more than 50 artists.
Brody Petersen, who bought the pub in 2021 for $10m, said as Goddard didn’t have any children or family, the contents of her apartment have all been left behind.
“The apartment is an original 1970s apartment, with the wallpaper and carpet and everything,” said Petersen, who previously owned Riley St Garage.
“The Hotel has always been a hub for creative people and when I bought the Pub, I wanted to put a whole bunch of art in it and make it a tribute to Doris.”
The show, which runs for two weeks, is being curated by artist in residence David Art Wales and contains artwork from Lindy Lee, Archibald Winner blak Douglas, Louise Tuckwell, Ken Done, John Safran and Reg Mombassa.
The launch party for the exhibition was so successful, it shut the hotel down because their was too many people.
Then, after the Hooray for Hollywood, Wales himself host his own show called Man Walks Into A Bar to showcase the paintings he’s produced since working in the pub.
“Not that many authentic things that smack of historical history you can enjoy in any ordinary way,” said Wales of the Hotel. “It has the same unpretentious, worn in, soulful atmosphere. It’s sad to me to see so many Sydney pubs gutted of ambience and soul. It’s one of the last places standing that has maintained its soul.”
While Petersen recently won a long-running legal battle to carry out a multimillion-dollar revamp of the venue following a planning stoush with the City of Sydney, he has no plans to renovate yet.
The Land and Environment Court has approved a $2.8m expansion of the Hollywood Hotel at Surry Hills, including a new storey addition to the venue and a green rooftop garden.
One thing that will never change is the ground floor of the pub.
“I will always retain ground floor in truest form,” said Petersen.
“We are definitely privileged and honoured to own a piece of Sydney history. My staff and I keep hearing that every week. Customers are so glad this hasn’t changed. It’s an iconic Sydney Bar. When people come in and say congrats on not ruining essence of bar, it makes you feel good.”
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