Notional Significance: Up and Under
[See all Notional Significance posts] The path sidles away from the road. To my left, and indeed to almost everyone’s left, is Wellington’s radical headquarters, 128 Abel Smith St. It’s well over three years since the shattering dawn when police smashed down the door, seeking evidence of so-called “terror camps”, but the Urewera 18 are […]
A Cuba St cafe that’s not a cafe in Cuba St
Last week I was in sunny Napier, idly strolling down Dalton Street, when I came across this curious cafe. Yes, it’s a cafe themed after a ’00s-era Wellington-style cafe. Named after our central cafe district, Cuba St cafe serves Wellington brands Havana coffee and t leaf T tea, and I was tickled to hear barbecue […]
Parkour update
In November 2007 I posted an article about the exciting pursuit of parkour in Wellington, and it’s been one of our most enduringly popular articles, generating a steady stream of traffic and comments. In the meantime, the New Zealand Parkour Association has been established. They have a strong presence in Wellington and recently got in touch to update […]
The Roxy: it’s a little bit foxy
On Thursday I took a step back in time to the early 1930s and entered the Roxy Cinema. Dan will, I’m sure, tell you more later about just what sort of cinema the Roxy is. For those who can’t wait it’s the first purpose-built 3D cinema in the country, with the best technology out there. […]
Brooklyn School raises funds for Redcliffs
Brooklyn School has organised a special screening of shorts this Sunday (3 April) at the Paramount to raise funds for Redcliffs School in Christchurch, which reopened last week after the February 22nd earthquake. Following a selection of NZ film classics — including Sima Urale’s beautiful and poignant debut “O Tamaiti” — you’ll be able to […]
Smells like year-old fish and rotten eggs. But awesome!
Has it really been a year since Fishhead magazine launched? Apparently so! Consequently, they’d like to party with you! There’s be cocktail specials, free entry and Wellington supergroup The Eggs playing. Fishhead birthday afterparty Thursday March 31, 9pm-midnight CQ Bar in the Quality Hotel, 223 Cuba Street. Last one in’s a rotten…
A lake of laksa
As it’s getting colder, and we’re getting colds, the minds of the Wellingtonista turn towards hot, spicy satisfaction. For some of us (well, at least me), this means laksa. But where on earth in Wellington can we find Malaysian food??? What’s that you say, on every second block? Okay, fine. But not all laksas are […]
Notional Significance: Resistance
[See all Notional Significance posts] I weave through concrete islands and metal barriers to the edge of the Basin Reserve. Just inside the fence is a monument to William Wakefield: as an abduction accomplice, mercenary, principled duelist and city father, he was the marginally more respectable of the Wakefield boys. The memorial is supposed to […]
Grey paint and padlocks
There was a photo in last Tuesday’s Dom Post of a paintbrush-toting chap in bright orange. Council employees wearing high-vis vests in the paper almost never means something good, and on reading the associated story* this was no exception: Wellington City Council workers yesterday started removing graffiti in a lane that links Ghuznee St with […]
Notional Significance: Underground
[See all Notional Significance posts] As I approach the tunnel mouth, I can’t help but notice the looming cliff to my right. I try to imagine the promised/threatened second tunnel, and the impact that its eastern portal will have on the landscape. I envision a giant tunnel-boring mole bursting from the mountainside, like one of […]