When Sydney was loose and lawless

SP bookies, guns, prostitutes, illegal two-up and hard liquor - the streets of Sydney used to be a lot sleazier but they were also a helluva lot more interesting, writes Mark Morri.

THERE was a time when Sydney was a touch on the lawless side but a lot more interesting where illegal casinos flourished and two-up schools dotted the city and its suburbs.

SP bookies were everywhere from your local butcher, the bloke sitting at the corner in the pub or the old journo at News Limited who typed in the TV Guide every week, refused promotions and owned a mansion on the Lane Cove river. He made a lot more money from his colleagues than his employer.

There were hookers (which is what they were called back then) on street corners, spruikers and strip clubs at the Cross because it was the only place to get a drink or anything else you may have wanted after 10pm.

Police outside the notorious Forbes Club at 155 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst, in 1973.

It was in the backstreets of Darlinghurst where I got my first taste of Sydneys illegal casinos at a place called the Forbes Club. A colleague who loved to gamble dragged me there about midnight one night after work where he knocked on the door of a nondescript terrace house and small panel slid open and my mate said: “Uncle Bruno sent me.’’

With these magical words a man with a bow tie and broad shoulders escorted us up the stairs where there were free drinks, nice sandwiches served by well dressed young women along with a number of blackjack tables and roulette wheels.

A few weeks later I went down-market to a two-up school in a shed on a vacant lot near the Four and Hand hotel in Paddington where a different workmate took me to because he “wanted to broaden my horizons”. I went there weekly to watch him lose his money and then give him a lift home because was flat broke.

It was the first time I heard those words “come in Spinner” and also seeing revolvers that were not in a policeman’s holster.

In the 1970s, Kings Cross was the only place you could get a drink after 10pm.

All of this supposedly operated in city’s deep dark underground but went on openly with a wink wink, nudge nudge and brown paper bags full of cash given to senior police and apparently passed up the line to politicians.

It’s why NSW was the last state to get a legal casino because too many people in high places were making money out of illegal gambling.

As romantic as that all sounds I’m not suggesting we go back to those days because what I didn't see were the broken bones, marriages and even murders back then because as it was explained to me, you can’t bet on “tick” or credit as non gamblers know it at a legal casino or the TAB.

Nor do they have henchmen to intimidate you into paying.

But I do admit it sure beat the hell out of Hornsby RSL on a Friday night with its prawn cocktails and 20c poker machines.