Iron Lace

King's Cross is one of Sydney's inner city locality, vibrant with restaurants, hotels, bars, nightclubs and shopping. The place has had a seedier past. Illegal trading of alcohol was rampant in the 1950s and King's Cross was the red light district of the city in the 1960s. Organized crime, drugs and corruption were notorious. Those days were long gone. Today, due to the very close proximity to Sydney CBD and the breath-taking view of the harbor, King's Cross definitely one of the most priced real-estate in city, if not the most.

I took a walk into the neighborhood on the morning of the Sydney Mardi Gras. The parade would bring tens of thousands of party revelers and tourists to the street in the evening. But it was still peacefully quiet in the morning, calm before the storm. It was a lovely leisurely stroll. I loved the intricate cast iron grille of the houses. Doors, windows, balconies and fences are decorated with such amazingly beautiful iron work of art. It was almost like lace, delicate and full of details. Well it's iron lace. Though they are old, they are preserved very well. It must be such pain-staking task but it's part of the charm and characters and history of the place. Wouldn't anyone give it all to preserve any part of our identity and our past?