Up The Cross

"Kings Cross is many things - part village, part ghetto, part state of mind," wrote the late Rennie Ellis in 1971. He along with Wesley Stacey, documented the melting pot that was the Cross during Sydney's coming of age.

It was a time when American G.I.s were coming the Cross on R&R and the notorious strip was teeming with colourful characters. Students, hippies, gangsters, poets, philosophers, prostitutes, junkies, tourists, cops and many others could be found trawling Darlinghurst Road on a Saturday night.

Ellis and Stacey captured these gregarious activities and each of their photographs, currently on display at the Museum of Sydney, truly tell a story.

Take for example, the beautiful Carlotta, one of the surgically enhanced "girls" that featured in Sammy Lee's famous Les Girls troupe. Or the snake writhing across the shoulders of a topless stripper (the worst part, she told Ellis, was feeding the snake "such cute little mice".)

These photographs show Kings Cross as the headquarters of the drop-out-generation, a tantalizing mix of neon lights and pulsing music. Not so much has changed since 1971.