Random Memories Blog

I was spooning some coffee from my Biggby Coffee Espresso roast into the Moka to make coffee this afternoon and was transported back to a Delicatessen at the corner of Paddington Street and Hopetoun street. You would walk in the door of this place and the first thing that hit you was this wonderful smell of ground coffee. The deli was one of many such establishments in Paddington in the early 70s. The residents of Paddo at that time were migrants, many Greeks and Italians had boarding houses in this inner city suburb of Sydney. These delis were where people shopped in those days, mimicking how shopping is done in their homelands even today.

Curious to see if the deli was still there I looked in Apple Maps and sure enough there is an Alimentaria located at 2 Hopetoun St, Paddington with good reviews on Yelp. Ahh the wonders of the internet and instant gratification for knowledge.

It looks more modern in the picture (of course) since it was 40 years ago you have to expect that. Notice the car parked in front has a "P" plate which is what all kids who pass their driving test have to display for 2 years after passing their test. Not a bad idea since it shows other drivers that there is a provisional driver in front of them. They are limited to 80km/h and zero blood alcohol which as the parent of two teenage drivers seems like a good idea. (I didn't like it at the time)

The other thing you see is a gum tree ( I miss seeing them). The yellow house to the right is a terrace house. We lived in a terrace house on Cambridge street which was about 1/4 mile North of here.

I love how smells can trigger memories. They call it olafactory memory and I hope to post more of these as they come to mind.