Our New Neighbours

words by alex robertson

The Pacific or “The new Bondi” it’s our home – it’s actually been home sweet home for just over a year now.

For those of you who don’t know The Pacific was once upon a time The Swiss Grand – a Bondi landmark that as my recent research has shown was not the most popular building in Bondi. When you looked at The Swiss Grand (formerly known as The Grand Hotel) you would assume it had hundreds of years of history when in actual fact it only opened in the early 90’s and as the name implies tried to be as grand as possible – and by grand, I mean tacky and stiff. You weren’t even allowed to wear board shorts or cosies through the front door.

Although we all miss our old friends Revolver, Cream Tangerine and Canteen, as far as the hotel side of things goes, Bondi did not welcome the “giant wedding cake” (as the locals called it) with open arms…

Enter Pacific – you saucy beast you!

The renewed Pacific has bought Bondi back to life. It’s beachy, fresh, new age design is slowly becoming a home to so many respected labels and delicious food – in saying that, the last couple of months we’ve got ourselves some pretty good lookin’ neighbours:

First Base Concept Store
This Activewear/Swimwear label is something that you need to get amongst. In the words of my main man Ben Stephens (read his rad interview with head designer Ali Cotton HERE) they have created “a culture that is built around ethically produced pieces, rad designs and awesome humans” that’s a wrap if I have ever heard one.
Sadly, the babes from First Base are, as they say “here for a good time not a long time” and will only be gracing us with their sexiness for another couple of months.

Lululemon
I know this may come as a shock, being a girl living in Bondi but I only wear my Activewear when I’m exercising. I also know I’m a rarity. The point I am making is when I buy Activewear I shop functionality over looks and if it looks banging then it’s an added bonus. The crew at Lululemon has managed to work both functionality and sass into pretty much every piece.

MCM House
Ladies of the Eastern Suburbs…. Prepare your credit cards for a belting! This store is homewares heaven but definitely ain’t cheap. I personally can’t justify $2K for a single woven chair but I’m sure plenty of people around this neck of the woods very much could. In saying this if I had a spare $100K I would deck my house from top to bottom with this stuff…. It’s absolutely beautiful!