Gone , without being noticed by the local media , is the prominent longtime CBD hotel , the Chifley Plaza . It is in the process of being converted into the Madison Plaza Hotel . Gone is the large Chifley Plaza name , above, over the entrance but the new one has not yet been inserted . However , attached to poles on the footpath outside are temporary , small signs declaring Madison Plaza parking .
By Googling , our S(h)ipping Reporter, the only one north of La Perouse , discovered that there is a Madison Plaza Hotel site , but it shows exterior shots of the Chifley Plaza . Confusing ? Sure is. Especially for some people who stayed in the hotel recently and wrote that they found the name change confusing , because they had booked into a place with another name . And driving about the CBD with all its roadworks , the hotel had been hard to find .
Another recent guest from Sydney said the price was right for his stay of a few nights but the premises were a little old and threadbare , the staff good , the place exactly what he needed for a few nights. He had done some diving trips and the bathtub had been " great " for taking care of his dive gear .
It has been suggested the hotel was named after Ben Chifley, an ALP federal treasurer and prime minister from 1945-49, but way back when this question was asked and again yesterday , nobody knew .
A CBD business to finally sink this very weekend , after 33 years' trading , again without being noticed by the media pack, is Doug Kemp's Camera House in Flinders Street . A camera bought from the shop has supplied many a photograph for this blog, despite being borrowed , dropped , knocked about , the automatic lens cover lost, by the rough S(h)ipping Reporter as he lurches about the waterfront taking candid camera incriminating snaps .Not far from the Kemp shop is a photographic sign from the past -Kodak-on top of a building .
UPCOMING : Local media misses royal visitor .
