Thursday 20 January 2011

Shoot-out at the OK Corral


When I was a kid aged about 10, say (1958, but who's counting!) my father bought Kellogg's Corn Flakes by the carton of 144 boxes. At that time, on the back, they had cardboard cut-outs of buildings to collect and make your own western frontier town. You know the drill: a saloon; a sheriff's office; a general store; and, a blacksmith's. My brothers and I would gobble down our cornies, cut out the building, joining all the tabs carefully, and add it to our 'town'. Into which we introduced our plastic characters from within the inevitably 'settled' flakes. Our imagination did the rest.

This top photo is so like the frontier towns of my imagination - minus the traffic lights, but who among you is so literal? The shop that is for sale, was erected in 1884 for "A. Kinnane, General Grocer'. It is on the corner of Liverpool Street and Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst.

PS - To this day, I cannot stand Corn Flakes.

18 comments:

Luis Gomez said...

Nice! So Sydney somehow.

Cloudy said...

Interesting story, and I also dont like those flakes...

Best wishes
Kvelli

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

That is a cute story from your childhood. It illustrates the devotion of parents.

We went to the real Tombstone, Arizona a few months ago, site of the real OK Corral. Tragically, about 10 days ago more people were killed on the streets of Tucson, Arizona, than on the streets of Tombstone at the shootout at the OK Corral.

Lois said...

What an interesting old building and I notice from the sign that it has a 2 bedroom residence and a garage. When I was growing up, my grandparents had a little grocery store with an attached residence in the back. I think it was almost as old as this one!

Kay L. Davies said...

Wouldn't it be wonderful to buy that place, fix up the flat upstairs, and have a bookshop inside that corner door? (If we had enough money to buy it, pay someone to renovate it, buy the books, and not worry if people just came in to browse, not buy.) I love it.
Also love the wild west feeling in the top photo. I don't know how many hundreds of hours my brother and I spent playing gunfights with our friends in the 1950s.
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Peter said...

Wopuldn't it be great if the whole building was restored to its old glory, sans the modern addition.

Jim said...

At first, I thought the top shot was somewhere in Europe. Would be great if someone did restore these properly.

Mark said...

Great story and pics, I can't stand Corn Flakes porridge please!

Ann said...

Without the modern trappings that could be the turn of the century.

Alan said...

You should try corn flakes with super cold milk just before you going bed when you're REALLY hungry some night. Eat them fast before they go soggy - it might make you rethink:-)

Windsmoke. said...

I don't blame you for not liking corn flakes anymore because these days they taste like cardboard. I wonder if anybody else feels the same way.

brattcat said...

Truth be told...unless they're frosted they are not so grrreat.

Peter said...

Very evocative location shot.

diane b said...

You just need a cowboy on his hoss coming down the street.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I agree cornflakes are yuk. And we also loved the toys especially those ones that walked.

Vicki said...

You've really captured that "western frontier" atmosphere.

I hope the new owner restores the shop and residence to its former glory.

Sue McGettigan said...

What a darling little building, who wouldn't want to open a corner shop in there??

LOL at the cornflakes :)

Julie said...

Yes, the building is a delight but will not be cheap to renovate. The one across from it is 'Bills', a restaurant. If it can be renovated, it would bring that intersection to life.