Oh yes, fond memories! Franklin Rd in Auckland in my case - 12 people in a 5 bedroomed flat. $25 rent, 12.50 kitty. Had to walk outside to the slimy shower that no-one ever cleaned. Outrageous parties. Vodka jelly and alcohol poisoning anyone?

Oh yes. Or rickets, as was rumoured about certain Dunedin flats and their catmeat-and-potatoes diets.

Maybe this should be linked to the Straitjacket Fits/risk aversion thread?? Causal link between willingness to live in utter squalor and penury as a youth, and eventual success as artist/entrepreneur/top civil servant/dilettante/whatever....? It worked for me.

This post was so.....yup, been there funny.
We used to live at no 26 knowles and had rival parties with the gladstone crowd flitting between addresses. funny thanks, recognised a few faces in clip, dont remember names.
I think the 26 house was built by the guy that founded readymix concrete and it had weird invisible flatmates. heard decades later that the guys daughter had some murder/suicide thing with her "coloured" lover/servant.
In general look back on those communal times with a fondness and wonder what happened to all those people we would have fought for.
Tis funny how urban parenthood removes that intense sense of family that developed in those big flats.

sorry, separate post, didnt mean to tag onto Jolisa's

Thanks for the kind comments. 12 in a five-bedroom is a great record; we never had more than 8 actual flatmates in a huge house (for $50 a week- and we still struggled to find it together some rent-days!)- but partners and friends and hangers-around meant stumbling over a sleeping-bag/body on the way to the loo at night was common.
Nostalgia is a tricky wee beast. I wouldn't go back for anything- and yet- and yet....

What I remember most about those halcyon days was that flats had titles to them. I myself had the great pleasure of living in the Red House (off K' rd Akl) for about 18 months, the rent in the early 90's was a grand 32 bucks.

Most international bands of any alternative repute visited the house and the day after I moved in Penelope Keith was filmed there for a Heinz ad. This house was also the creative stable for one of the best and most gonzo bands of that time - Sperm Bank Five. SB5's previous band incarnation ?Fog shot their seminal music video Brian there, possibly the best visual evidence of the sublime gestalt that was the red house interior. Stuart Page stand and upload please.

The house was reportedly the first Police station in K' rd and did have stables, an outhouse, and a covered over well to validate that claim. Sadly it was gentrified in the mid 90's and has been painted the most sterile of whiltes.

Can't seem to find Brian...! But Stuart Page also lived at Knowles St- that's what we called it, ignoring the fact there were about 500 other houses on the St, including rival party-holders just over the road. But he was mostly print-making (and possibly drumming for the Axemen) in those days- (end of the 70s). The first Scorched Earth video was shot (mostly) there, by Rongotai Lomas- an amazingly talented film-maker. Love to know what happened to him....

Gary Henderson wrote a great song about these flats. It went something like ... I WANT TO BE ALTERNATIVE / LIVING IN A FLAT THAT'S JUST KNOWN BY ITS STREET NAME ... halycon days.

Mr Crappy, I'm curious, where exactly was Red House?

Hi Robin,

It was (and is) at number 8 west terrace just before where the
K' rd market is or was (dont get in to town much these days) Where the bus queue is, a dairy that specialises in indian products is on the corner. On another topic is it true Dylan R. fathered a child?

Righto

Aarggh! Sorry!

I was just about to do my moderator thing and tidy up some formatting in Mr Crappy's excellent post about the Red House and I hit "Delete" instead of "Edit"!

I've lodged a call with the CactusLads to find out where posts go when dumbass moderators accidentally delete them ...

But yeah, good point anyway: we need people like Stuart Page to get on and upload some gems.

Yo RB

I know my formatting is shite, A simple waqy to avoid such mistakes is to simply change the formatting instuctions from quote to block quote. I though that this custom tag was a means to add quotation marks, not an indented quote. My mistake - sorry. Whilst on the hobby horse, how about adding tabs at the top of the page something like the trademe site to get from here to pubadd and back. I know its like comparing peaches to arses in terms of aesthetics but the switchover could be more transparent. One last, whats up all the scroll bars, looks bad - unless its a firefox 1.0 thing.....

I think the 26 house was built by the guy that founded readymix concrete and it had weird invisible flatmates. heard decades later that the guys daughter had some murder/suicide thing with her "coloured" lover/servant.

Ooh. Do you reckon that might be what the Victor Dimisich Band song 'Native Waiter' is about?

Don't look now/You might be dead ...

Yo RB. I know my formatting is shite, A simple waqy to avoid such mistakes is to simply change the formatting instuctions from quote to block quote. I though that this custom tag was a means to add quotation marks, not an indented quote. My mistake - sorry.

De nada. The guys decided to use wiki-style formatting rather than allow any real HTML, which counts out the "blockquote" tag. I thought we had your post back, but it doesn't seem to de displaying yet.

Yep, the annoying scrollbars thing is a Firefox 1.0 issue - fix soon, hopefully.

One last, whats up all the scroll bars, looks bad - unless its a firefox 1.0 thing.....

Yep, the annoying scrollbars thing is a Firefox 1.0 issue - fix soon, hopefully.

Ask and ye shall receive. This issue is fixed now. Will check on Mr Crappy's deleted post. I thought we'd undeleted it but it still appears to be hidden.

I thought we'd undeleted it but it still appears to be hidden.

Mr Crappy, your post is back...

Ooh. Do you reckon that might be what the Victor Dimisich Band song 'Native Waiter' is about?

Don't look now/You might be dead ...

Could be, RB. But I do remember the Blam Blam Blam crew and the Midge Marsden band were both regular attendees.

Another thread, why drive to Ashburton?, the deaf school out at Sumner had some we had to cut into sections to be able to carry, and we justified it by knowing how much safer we made it for the kids. This was after sessions at the "Marine" of course.

Also the Gordons and the Batts or an earlier incarnation