“THINGS go better with Coke®” is their jingle.
And local residents hope this applies to the homeless and less well-off in our area now the Kings Cross Coca-Cola sign has been sold off. Proceeds went to the Wayside Chapel. Individual letters were sold on e-bay with the little ‘c’ being the most popular and selling for $18,700.

The original sign was a much smaller 1960s sign on a nearby building. When the old building was demolished a large, colourful mural by an unusually-sounding “Ellis D Fogg” was painted on the new building. It featured groovy, hip 1970s motifs with psychedelic swirls and what appeared to be a popping champagne bottle alongside what the artist called “nonsense writing”. Its subliminal message suggested “this is the place to party”.

The artist, Mr. Fogg, whose real name is Roger Foley, says he was commissioned in 1973 to paint images of moving liquids pouring from a tipped bottle onto the wall. “It wasn’t a Coke advertisement at that point,” he said. “I got the impression it was designed to entice someone like Coke to consider using the space for an ad.” It worked. A massive 43 metre-wide Coca Cola sign was installed within 12 months.

So this second, later, Coke sign number two, the one recently in place and now sold off, was installed, but an even larger sign was proposed for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Coke was a sponsoring partner. The former South Sydney Council rejected this proposal. Nevertheless, a second sign the same size was approved, doubling exposure.

After 43 years, however, the 1970s sign showed signs of wear and tear.

Meanwhile, local residents say their pillow talk was disturbed by light spill and were pleased it was off for six months. The new sign has a dimmer switch just for them. Surprisingly for some, it was never heritage-listed. Heritage is only about one thing, significance. The sign didn’t have any known historical, social, technical, indigenous, archaeological or architectural significance.
Now it’s gone and the eagle-eyed note the new, computer-aided sign has slightly smaller swirls and less letters.

By Andrew Woodhouse, Director, Heritage Solutions