Magic Mountain and Downtown

 Magic Mountain, at Glenelg, and Downtown , in Hindley Street in the Adelaide CBD , were hugely popular places where teenage and children could go. They were so different and fun and made a great family outing into the age of arcade games and water slides. Magic Mountain was very much loved because it had its own tokens for the machines, the waterslide was amazing and the carousel was just beautiful. Little children loved it. The mountain itself was a weird looking thing but its kitchy look was part of the appeal. It has been removed and replace by a whole new development in the area and The Beachhouse where the refurbished carousel has found its new home. None of the magic of Magic Mountain but places change. 

Downtown was more of a teenage venue and the arcade games and huge rollerskating rink were a great combination for high physical energy output and then some high powered brain games because arcade games were so new and different. 

The man who brought us all of this is the multitalented and dynamic Frank Sebastyan. He has literally been a lifelong learner and combined all of his skills to contribute much to Adelaide and also to create a fascinating life for himself. 

The JamFactory

 It was a real pleasure to find myself at the bottom of Hindley Street and visiting the JamFactory. Like everything else in Adelaide , this end of town has been reinvented too and it's starting to look and feel really cool. It was great to see how focussed the glass makers were . They have to be. They are dealing with molten glass and their loving care was obvious but paramount to their safety too. The exhibition of shell jewellery was lovely. I have seen a lot of shell jewellery in South Pacific nations and ours was just so delicate. The other display areas housed some beautifully made objects at what were reasonable prices for such carefully conceived pieces. Back up the road from the JamFactory is The Adelaide College of the Arts. I am so glad they have settled on that name! It has been through a number of name changes and they didn't ever quite do the job. This one is simple , straight forward and nails it. I must go and have a closer look at some time because it seems to have lost its industrial look. It is a very well respected art school and always has been. It was interesting to walk down Hindley Street this morning. It gets a bit tacky but not brash like it used to be . During the day it has an interesting rather than unsavoury feel about it. The Woolshed Hotel looks spectacular. They have done a brilliant job on the facade.  

I walked from the Arts College to the JamFactory and wondered why they had massage parlours on that side of the road. Out of place, unseemly looking and away from the feel of what is now becoming a very artistic and creative end of town. The Mercury Theatre fits right in and so it could be further be developed to be a really cool area for artistic innovation and expression. You see the Nove on Luce cafe in all its aesthetic  glory and then a massage parlour which is  a bleak and stark contrast and spoils the feel of the area. The massage parlours and so on can exist elsewhere. Let that area just be developed by our creative spirits. No reason why we could not have the more new age places for relaxation and therapy.