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Despite any future changes to maps, the stretch of road known as Sydney’s Broadway will forever be, to me, that which connects two of the city’s grandest and most historic buildings — Central Railway Station and what used to be the Broadway store of Grace Bros.

The stretch also contains the old KB brewery and many structures belonging to Uni of Technology. The buildings of Sydney University, including its grand old Great Hall, have to be relegated to Parramatta Road.

Leaving Central, the left-hand side of the road belongs to the old inner-west suburb of Chippendale, the right-hand side mostly to historic Ultimo.

It’s an area I knew well years ago, while living in nearby Glebe, both as a student and in my formative years as a journalist, though not for the Fairfax organisation which occupied a whole swathe of Ultimo.

Spice Alley: a taste of Asian street food.

And my first ‘proper’ girlfriend lived in Chippendale, which these days has been almost totally gentrified by the Central Park development, centred on the suburb’s Kensington Street, and which has been turned into an enclave of restaurants, gallery spaces and upmarket dwellings.

The developent offers a miriad of dining options, ranging from the relatively exclusive in the form of restaurants such as Holy Duck and Mekong, to the many outrageously cheap options in Spice Alley.

I recently got to try out the latter’s collection of Asian street food and came away satisfied indeed, having tucked into a selection picked by Kensington Street’s Communications Manager, Daria Grove: Holy Basil with minced pork from Bang Luck Thai, Hainanese chicken from Alex Lee Kitchen, Char Kway Teow from Old Jim Kee, and some okonomiyaki from Kyo-to.

Spice Alley: outrageously cheap options.

All washed down with a stubby-sized bottle of Asahi Japanese beer.

The Ultimo side has been less lucky or unlucky, depending on the way you look at it. Fairfax has departed, the Uni of Technology is more resistant to change and the old Grace Bros has a new life as a modern shopping centre.

Even its modern centrepiece, the Powerhouse — a creation based on the much more historic Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences — looks like heading west. And surely that can’t be a good thing. Or can it be more positive than the Government’s grab for quick cash from a real-estate deal?

looks so different than it did when I lived nearby.

Anyway, regardless of how it has developed, the area is home to two of my favourite accommodation establishments — the Mercure Sydney, near Central Station, and the Aspire Metro, in Ultimo’s Bulwarra Road, directly opposite one of my uni work sites, the former NSW Bottle Company.

The former is my choice whenever I’m travelling by rail, which seems a lot these days, and need a fix of wine and food, which also seems a lot these days.

Spice Alley: a new look for Chippendale.

And the latter is my home away from home whenever I want to be inner-Sydneyside yet still retain a touch of the country. It’s probably my real favourite, truth be known.

And is the development of the area a good thing?

Time will tell, I suppose, though one thing’s a definite possibility: there’ll be less singing Give My Regards to Broadway. Or will there? Though the style will certainly have changed.

Written by JOHN ROZENTALS