Hyde Street Keg Party 2014

So it looks like the Hyde Street party, full of crazy dress ups and named flats, is to be held on the 12 April this year according to OUSA Administrative VP, Ryan Edgar.  http://www.critic.co.nz/news/article/3612/the-royal-hyde-street-party

I’m planning a post for early April about the Hyde Street event, so if you have any stories you’d like to share, particularly if you were involved in the early days of the event, please get in touch.

Dr Ali Clarke, historian, blogs about the project

Thanks to Dr Ali Clarke for her wonderful post about the Dunedin Flat Names Project. Ali works at Hocken Collections and is also engaged in writing a history of the University of Otago for the upcoming 150th celebrations. Check out Ali’s posts, she’s covered some fascinating stories. http://otago150years.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/naming-flats/.

Pic’s Flat – more peanuts than you can poke a stick at #flatnames

108 Dundas Street (2014)

108 Dundas Street (2014)

Pic’s Flat on Dundas Street is a new addition to the named flat community this year and has received it’s name from the (in my opinion) best peanut butter company on the shelves, Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter.

The five flatmates arranged a 12 months sponsorship deal with Pic’s and now receive a 2.5kg bucket of the peanuty goodness weekly.

Find out more about the flatmates on the Pic’s webpage, and also their Facebook page.

The Embassy #flatnames

40 Dundas Street (2014)

40 Dundas Street (2014)

40 Dundas Street hasn’t been graced by a flat name for more than ten years. It appears we now have a proud Samoan Embassy in Dunedin North!

The last recorded name for this flat was the infamous “Greasy Beaver Lodge”. The (unconfirmed) word on the street was the then landlord banned further naming.

40 Dundas Street (2001)

 

The Greasy Beaver Lodge will live on in the record of NZ art history however, as it was one of the many named flats in Dunedin that inspired artist, Scott Eady‘s  Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 2002.

 

 

A reinterpretation of The Greasy Beaver Lodge sign featured in Scott Eady’s exhibition “Signs” at The Blue Oyster Gallery in 2002. The sign currently resides in the Hocken Collections (record).

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The Greasy Beaver Lodge, Scott Eady (2002) at The Blue Oyster Gallery

The Greasy Beaver Lodge reappeared in April 2016 shortly after 40 Dundas Street was sold.

“It was the beginning of everything” 660 Castle Street #flatnames .@six60

Three years ago on a rainy Monday morning in Christchurch, I picked up the phone and called Ji Fraser to interview him about his band Six60, named for their flat at 660 Castle Street. When I asked him about how he found flatting in Dunedin he responded diplomatically, “Flats are not that nice to live in but have heaps of character.” The house and it’s neighbour, were built c 1927-8, and are now looking their age.

Ji hails form Gisbourne but his Otago experience began at University College in 2005, he and Matiu took a couple of music papers – they’d both been turned down for the contemporary rock course. It doesn’t bother them now. They’ve done very well, they signed with Universal Studios on 8 May 2010[1], and their single Rise Up 2.0 recently reached number 1 on the NZ charts on 24th January 2011[2] after entering the charts on 6 Sept 2010.

In 2006 Matiu and Ji moved into 660 Castle Street with friends from University College. They had spent time jamming in their rooms and thought it’d be good to flat together and get a band going. Ji bought a cheap PA. Hoani played the bass. Through the course of the year they met Eli who’s still the current drummer (2011). They referred to the flat amongst themselves, and to others, as 660, and as the band formed and they started playing shows, they became known as the 660 boys. When it came to releasing their first EP, they decided to call themselves Six60, after that Castle Street flat because “it was a place that meant so much to us”.

So, why did this flat mean so much to them. “That’s where it all began”. Ji elaborated, “it’ where I wrote my first song, it’s where we had our first practice together. It was the beginning of everything.” Like so many other Otago alumni, Ji feels the experience flatting has a great impact on students because for many it’s their first time living independently. “They’re really special for a lot of people. So many good times, a lot of bad times too. They’re a rich source of memories.”

Copyright Six60

Rise Up EP logo via George FM, Copyright Six60.

Before their first NZ tour Ji contacted a friend who has a clothing label called Search. One of their designers came up with a range of ideas for a logo for the band, the brief was to include the name and reference the Castle Street flat. It was used on the Rise Up 2.0 release cover. The guys like the idea of strong visually memorable graphics to advertise themselves.

Their music video for Don’t forget your Roots (directed by Robin Walters, July 2011) cruises through the Dunedin North landscape and highlights a number of named flats of the day.


Six60 are in town for Orientation and took the opportunity to visit 660 Castle St a couple of days ago before playing  last night (20.02.14) at the Starters bar (aka The Orie(ntal) or The Last Moa). They play the Forsyth Bar Stadium tonight (21.02.14)

Westie Pad #flatnames

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The Westie Pad was one of the first sponsored flats in Dunedin. It is rented by Westpac Bank and sublet to the group of students who win a set of challenges for the right to live rent free for a year. Despite competition being a bit thin on the ground sometimes, there have been winners.

Dunedin doesn’t have a “Westie” culture as such. However with over 80% of students coming to Dunedin to study, this flat may appeal particularly to those from further north; or those who were devotees of the TVNZ show, “Outrageous Fortune” based in West Auckland which was popular earlier in the decade.

Here’s an entry video created by contestants from 2013.

References:
Westie Pad construction photos from the Student Pac Facebook Page