The Battle Of The Beaches

By Rupert Truscott-Hughes on June 19, 2015 in Other

It is a long held belief that Bondi, despite its grime, is the centre of style and sophistication in the Eastern Beaches, while Coogee is, at best, its daggy cousin.

Given that I spend a lot of my time in Scum Valley and very little of it down south, I tend to agree with this notion. Lately, though, a number of associates of mine have been singing the praises of Coogee, claiming that its cool new establishments, calm waters, family friendly facilities and more affordable house prices have made it the place to be.

Many people will point a finger directly at the ‘Hemmes Effect’ when reflecting on the rise of this once ridiculed suburb, but well before Justin Hemmes flung open the doors to the bottom level of his stylish Pavilion project, Coogee was going through somewhat of a transition.

Features more commonly associated with the fad-addled Bondi such as community gardens and weekend yard sales began popping up many moons ago, and businesses that had once flourished thanks to the demographic of backpackers, boozers and beachgoers were beginning to disappear, replaced by organic cafes, Mexican cantinas and cold-pressed juice bars.

Fans of the suburb argue that the calm waters of Coogee created by the swell blocking Wedding Cake Island give the suburb an almost Mediterranean feel – at least that’s what the real estate agents would have you believe – and the picturesque Wylie’s Baths has been billed by many as a more beautiful Icebergs and without all the wankers.

Another key ingredient to Coogee’s ascendancy is the fact that it is still actually a great little ‘community’, rather than just a series of cliques posturing as a community, proclaiming to have a ‘community feel’ but somehow missing the mark. Knowing the first name of your over-priced butcher does not a community make.

Families absolutely love Coogee too, and while I don’t have a young family of my own, there does seem to be a greater feeling of space and a more relaxed pace down that way. Even without a family, there couldn’t be many more relaxed places than the beer garden at the Coogee Bay Hotel on a Sunday afternoon.

Of course the reason most people rate a certain suburb highly is the fact that they can afford to live there when they might struggle to live somewhere else. Thus they are forced to make the most of their lesser surrounds. Those who failed to secure a property in Bondi before the seventeenth consecutive ‘boom’ have to settle somewhere, after all.

It is quite clear that the race for Eastern Suburbs supremacy is getting more competitive; it is certainly no longer a one-horse race. Bondi has long held the lead unchallenged but these days Coogee is definitely making a play for the title. Will Coogee ever be as cool as Bondi? Probably not, but is that such a bad thing?