I went to Sweethearts every Friday and Saturday from 85 to 91 as well as $1 drink nights and live music there was always a massive group of us and we knew many people there. The pool party’s sometimes lasted till 5.30 am. Was the greatest times of my life. Young and free with none of the political correctness we have now. Great video
Im sure they would’ve played there more than once, but recall seeing them there too. Who could forget Iggy & Joylene Hairmouth engaging in a standup 69 on stage.
Great video, great club. I’m in the pink shirt with 2 bouncers and the other glassy. I loved working there and had some best memories. Great video. Thank you Tony and Ross.
I worked At Sweethearts for some time. I'm actually in this clip with the two girls sitting at the front door, with the brunette (gorgeous Dale), and I'm also the front girl with the White costume top and pink skirt for the Hawaiian night photo. I worked there Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.. and I was also a full-time secretary in the city. I would drag my sorry arse out of bed in the mornings to get the train to work then race home to get ready to go to work again. The best club I've ever worked at with the fondest memories Still giving me a smile. You've done a great job in putting this🎉 video together. A great flash of memories for me. Cheers, Nicole
Thank for the awesome 😎 video about our beloved sweethearts❤ was pleasantly suprised to see my photos with RED 😊I worked there as a barmaid For so many years Best times I ever had 🎉🎉Blarsha
Raised in Cabramatta West. Never much fancied the Stardust - known as a 'bloodhouse'. Only saw Barnsy on his comeback after Cold Chisel there - with Mal Eastick and Jeff ? in the band? And then The Oils, which for me was notable for them doing 'US Forces' a capella (even Martin joined in (!)) clustered around a single mike on the stage lip. Nice.
Hi just found U... well done... please keepem commin... WE ARE ALL WITH YOU... LV Da Doc Neeson portrait... never went to the pub... I'm in SA... but YES those days n bands FANTASTIC
I grew up in Cabramatta and we would often go to Sweethearts. I was working the night it burnt down and attended in a professional capacity. End of an era
I designed & help install the Sound & Lighting system at Stardust which opened as a Rock music venue in late 79. I was also the DJ there from 79 to 82. Lots of stories to be told about the Tourists, Redgum etc. Great days. I also worked at Family & Sundowner as a DJ over a similar time period.
Great video.....the Stardust in the 80's was just a square bar and that's it.....when Sweethearts came along it gave the young people from the west a venue to see top class bands....such a shame to see it all gone now, but the memories are ours. Thank you so much. PS What was the club called at Smithfield Tavern owned by Molly Meldrum? I can't remember the name but I saw bands like the Eurogliders there. Cheers Gary
It's quite ironic that The Stardust Hotel was known as a rough pub but it wasn't always like that. It was the first major development of its kind for the area, opened in 1961 and cost 220k, it was actually a classy hotel/motel, the motel was at the back. By the mid 80's it was pretty ordinary inside but it had character and characters, still remember the day it got shot up. Cheers Gary
Awesome Vid I grew up in Fairfield West And I was a old school Punk Rocker and a Local Muso It Was God's gift to the western suburbs to have a venue like that
This is an overload of nostalgia for sure. Practically lived at Sweethearts, played in bands there, DJ’d a little, met my ex-wife there, got pissed with the bouncers. I knew Ross Vasalli when he owned a night club in Gosford where my band often played. Wonder sometimes how I ever lived through those times. Thanx for sharing!🍻❤️
@queenslander7756 the unique thing about Sweethearts is that people from all over Sydney would make the trek. I had friends in Cronulla that went ...a venue like no other 👏👏👏
@@Gioia67 One of the co-owners Tony, was very creative and always looked to provide a variety of stimulating, exciting events to keep the public’s attention, even to the point of changing the whole carpet flooring regularly. The focus was on interactive participation. His barmaids were beautiful with great personalities, which even made buying a drink a pleasurable experience. Lucky for me, I lived in the vicinity! Can’t imagine travelling from Cronulla. Drink driving Regis weren’t what they are today!😂
We used to drive up from Canberra, and book a room at the Jolly Knight :) Four girls all getting ready in one small room, so much fun. We danced all night, great memories!!
Stardust/Sweethearts + War And Peace, were the best places to go to back in the day. Molly was at Sweethearts quite often & was always very very pissed lol, but a great bloke. Most bands /artists that played at Sweethearts finished their night at the Winebar in Fairfield.... which is a story in itself!
I grew up in Carramar , we started seeing bands in 78 / 79 when l was slightly under 18 yrs old, usually at SEFTON ( Now there's a venue for you ) l can't remember the first time we went to the STARDUST but we went in early 1980 to see INXS and others. SWEETHEARTS was a huge success . One night I won a bottle of Champagne for best male dancer. The best female won a SPECIALS 12" . l immediately said to her ' do yo wanna swap ? ' and she said yes . l was so glad she did. l still have it too. Mad place . l went there once several years later with my younger brother Donald Bingham and everybody knew him !! ...Girls were coming up to him before we even reached the bar. l think he was a proper regular there .
The biggest overseas act to play at Sweethearts IMHO was Bo Diddley. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart also played there when they were still known as The Tourists.
I nearly got a root as the pro's would chill on Fisher street, i was a kid n so didn't know shlt n she said do o want to get lucky n i said hell yea. Not knowing what she meant n then she said let's go, n i said "go where? N she laughed n said u have no idea what I'm talkin bout aye? N laughed. A decade later i saw her pic in a newspaper that she was missing n then found murdered. Poor girl, she was so pretty too.
Still have heaps of venue posters from there. Huge Midnight Oil poster. Would go earlier the next day to hassle for them. Great memories. Gypsy Fire, Mad Gorilla. Zarsoff Brothers ,Cyril B Bunter , Richard Clapton, Screaming Tribesman, Dee Minor. To many great bands and Motörhead and Killing Joke! plus all the great Aussie pub bands. Those were the days!
Love your series of "What happened to......" Giola, keep up the great work. If you decide to do one on the Family Inn Rydalmere where many of the top bands of the day played gigs, it would make great viewing. Kev
I was a teen in mid 80s just arrived in Australia from south east Asia living in Fairfield. I remembered one time going to SWEETHEART IN CABRAMATTA with my elder sister & her friends who took us there, in the club there were full of young white good looking girls & guys & it was a great place there. Good memory.
Great video. I lived in Villawood and went to sweethearts many times, i saw many of the bands you mentioned. the 80s was agreat period for Live music. we witnessed history actually. i saw canned Heat there
Wow, Canned Heat would have been great...I remember seeing the lame Katrina and the Waves! Why! LOL They were crap ...but saw so many other bands there too ...great place Cheers
Yeah 👍. Jungle room had it's share of great nights. Parradise at Parra Station was awesome too. Sweety's was the place but. I could walk (long walk) home. Golfie and Digger's were great too. Great days, great memories.
Hmmm Tony and Ross, the stories I could tell, but I like my life so will keep them to myself. I did have a great time at Sweethearts but I also knew the darker side of the place. I actually dated one of the bar usefuls as they were called way back then, he lived there and spent many nights up in the room. Not telling how old I was but suffice to say I started spending time at the Stardust when I was 14 and was NEVER asked for ID. Saw some of the best bands, strippers in the main bar, many fights and a whole lot of wasted people! Good times.
Lived in Fairfield West up until 88. Remember many nights at the Dust (Sweethearts) especially one in early eighties. The legendary Texas Bluesman Johnny Winter...best 12 bucks I ever spent.
Was there when Molly DJ'd, Saw Noiseworks there, amongst many others. 1$ drink nights .....Good times🤟. Back in the days when the gig guide in the paper was full of pub bands and pokies in pubs weren't a thing.
I remember Sweethearts being our local (even though we lived in Wentworthville, near Parramatta) night club. I went almost weekly at times between '86 to '89. It definitely had a fun vibe and would often be not open, but still pumping, well past 3am. My thing was bongs in my car every hour, on the hour. Out the back to the carpark I would go. There was n9w drug testing back then, so I wouldn't drink past midnight (or 1am) and drive friends home. Great times.
Another great live music place in Sydney was ST George sailing club they hosted heaps of Aussie bands grin spoon played there plenty of times the police used to set up breath tests on taren point bridge and stop every one leaving we used to go by boat at least 15 boats they where the best times
As a roadie i worked with INXS there in 79 ish when it was Stardust. I remember it well as i fell asleep driving home on Henry Laurance Dr and hit a pole and wrote myself off. Still never got my 25 bucks for the gig, but have the scars to prove it .
I remember a valentine's night party one year (late eighties) that had the club fully decorated with hearts 💕 💞 ♥ of all sizes plus other romantic stuff. That was the most changed (apart from the pool night) I ever saw the place. I remember a glitter night too.
I think you may have left out Mental As Anything, I'm sure they would have played there a heap of times....although I don't think I ever saw them there. I did see the Mentals along with two others you mentioned, The Radiators & Jimmy and The Boys, at another iconic music pub, The Local Inn @West Ryde......my first underage gig.....yep, I got drunk and threw up!!!!!!
I think the main reason the pub rock scene died off was gentrification and changing tastes. Pub Rock was a working-class man's (and girls) thing. Pubs became cleaner, the fans grew up, and the new kids liked electronic music leading to the rise of DJs and nightclubs. No new bands were coming along, and the new music was different. Pokies had some effect, also the rise of gastropubs that served food, Responsible Service of Alcohol laws, Random Breath-Testing etc There were a lot of factors.
I played soccer in the 80's with a guy who DJ-ed there with his brother. Late in the night they''d do this thing where they'd get the girls to kneel down on the dance floor then play the Radiators 'gimme head'. The 80's !
I can tell u wat happened to sweethearts in the Cross .. the pulled it down n put Maccas there the fools.. n yes thats the place J Barnes song is about.
lol The song was about sweethearts in the cross were Smackers is now n there was f all heroin in the 80s there in cabra trust me but more so in the 90s.
I was the guy in the video the DJs use to play on the big screen with the stripper, friends got me a stripper for my birthday there one night. The crowd lot it as I was told to sit on a chair in the middle of the dance floor wile this hot lady did her thing on me.😆
I went there ( new name! ) in the 90s?, me & a couple of mates are having a game of pool!, 2 chicks walk in, straight to the toilet!, fair enough, 10 mins later 3 paramedics?, rush into the toilet!, 10 mins later, paramedics leave?, 5 mins later BOTH CHICKS!, get yelled at!, f off ya low life junkies!, good ol cabra!, in the days.
I have story, on my out of sweet hearts a bouncer young bouncer in company called, Ilan punched me from behind,best to leave ,not long after I was at my mates when one of my mates brothers friend arrived to pick him up , and guess who it was? I went up to the car and waited till Ilan got out of the car but he had an accident with the car door the shape of his head was all over the door ,mates mun came running put and blamed me for it, I was banned not for long ,she got told the truth, the car was possessed, if someone still knows I L A N pls ask him what he do with the car?
