Some questions about the Myer Centre

[fkj]

This afternoon me and my mate were walking around the city, just checking out buildings, and we decided to check out the top of the myer centre, for remnents of Dazzland, which i have been told exists, and in our time up on the seccond to top floor, we noticed a few things which i have pictures of, and i was hoping some people on here couuld fill me in on some details.

First off, this platform was on the Rundle Mall side of the building, and i was interested as to if it was used for anything, eg observation deck, or if it was just an accessway?


Next, i was wondering if this may have been the location of the rollercoaster platform, as those two beams going accross looked more than strong enough, and suitable for holding this;


And now, one last thing.
As you may know, if you have been onto the 5th floor, i believe it is, there is white panelling, between 6 and 7 ft tall, along the other side of the floor, which you cant access, which starts on the central 'bridge', i muscled up on this to look over, and on the other side it seemed work was underway, air conditioning related, as celing panels were ripped out, with old ducting pipe stuff on the floor, and new stuff half installed, or at least that was what it looked like.
Unfortunatley i didnt get a photo of this, because just after i looked over, a security guard came around, from behind some more white panelling, and told us to leave, subsequently escorting us out of the centre, and asking us not to return today.
When i asked him what we had done wrong, he said that we were trying to look over the panels into private property, which to me sounded like they didnt want me to see what was happening on the other side.
So any clues as to whats happening?

Oh and one last thing, the only remnant of dazzland we saw, was the Dazzland Coffee Shop sign.

[iTouch]

Unfortunatley i didnt get a photo of this, because just after i looked over, a security guard came around, from behind some more white panelling, and told us to leave, subsequently escorting us out of the centre, and asking us not to return today.
When i asked him what we had done wrong, he said that we were trying to look over the panels into private property, which to me sounded like they didnt want me to see what was happening on the other side.
So any clues as to whats happening?

Heh, an Area 51 in our own backyard

[fkj]

ahah, wouldnt that be great.
don't think its quite that top secret though

[monotonehell]

For some reason some of the security guys in there are mad keen on the rules about camera use and how it (might) relate to a (kind of poorly thought through) link to terrorism. Anybody even just trying out a digital camera in the front of Dick Smith's gets escorted off the premises.

There has been some action up there in recent months. I've noticed less of the old Dazeland showing through, seems they might have tenants or at least some notion of how to get them in the higher levels.

There's even less tenants on the upper levels now that ABC Shop, Wanker's Shack and Priceline have moved to the Terrace Level.

To your questions, the catwalk is a catwalk that hung over the top of everything for aerial maintenance access to the atrium ceiling area, you can see the little trapdoor in the wall there also for similar access to the walk around the faux ceiling. All very scary to walk on! (I never did )

I don't think the rollycoasty went that high. Pretty sure what you are looking at there is part of an exposed structural I-beam that's holding the roof up. If you look at the columns that run the height of the building, you can see large clamped on brackets every now and then. Those held the rollercoaster's track up.

(Mono worked in the Myer Centre for most of the '90s. The air conditioning never worked well in the Terrace level. Also I watched the slow decline by degrees of Dazeland first hand. )

[fkj]

cheers for that mono, good too see someone knows about the myer centre.
you're right about there being hardly anything up there,lincraft seems to be about it, although they are occupying nearly half of one floor,
and just recently Rivers has moved into the floor below that, i was surprised to see it there, and even more surprised at the amount of people inside.
it definatley did look like something was happening up the top there, but yeah, who knows, i dont think they are going to attract many people up to the top floors just for shops, they need something better to attract them, which is what dazzland would have done ideally, but obviously that didnt work for long.
Is the fernwood gym still in operation up there? anyone know, cos it sure didnt seem like it when i was up there.

[iTouch]

What was the reason Dazzleland closed? Wasn't it around the same time that John Martins closed? Was it due to the collapse of the state bank or was it something different? If only it would reopen or something Beachhouse needs a competitor

[monotonehell]

What was the reason Dazzleland closed? Wasn't it around the same time that John Martins closed? Was it due to the collapse of the state bank or was it something different? If only it would reopen or something Beachhouse needs a competitor

The main reason was that Adelaide was in recession during the late '90s. People didn't have as much spare cash for entertainment, and if they did they stopped traveling to the CBD to spend it. Lack of trade lead to poor maintenance, which lead to less trade, and finally closure.

There was also a shift away from that style of entertainment at the time - I'm not sure if it was just the lack of money or another social factor (Nintendos and Playstations?). Downtown, Timezone Meridian and even Magic Mountain down at the Bay saw similar tough times.

I think it was back then that the stay at home suburbanite was born. Those people who sit in their loungerooms complaining that there's "nothing to do."

[russo92]

What was the reason Dazzleland closed? Wasn't it around the same time that John Martins closed? Was it due to the collapse of the state bank or was it something different? If only it would reopen or something Beachhouse needs a competitor

The main reason was that Adelaide was in recession during the late '90s. People didn't have as much spare cash for entertainment, and if they did they stopped traveling to the CBD to spend it. Lack of trade lead to poor maintenance, which lead to less trade, and finally closure.

There was also a shift away from that style of entertainment at the time - I'm not sure if it was just the lack of money or another social factor (Nintendos and Playstations?). Downtown, Timezone Meridian and even Magic Mountain down at the Bay saw similar tough times.

I think it was back then that the stay at home suburbanite was born. Those people who sit in their loungerooms complaining that there's "nothing to do."

I love the Myer Centre building, those unoccupied top floors have such a mystery about them, can't believe what used to occupy them, doesnt seem real.
These places need to be brought back, under new names or whatever. Adelaide really had a few gems here and there, but because of lack of vision, and ultimately money problems, nothing seemed to last. People today do complain there's nothing to do, youth are more independent and would use all of these things frequently. A few entertainment orientated centres in the CBD would suffice well in this day and age. Places like Timezone or Intencity with all the arcade games, as well as a new cinema complex, bowling centres, lazer skirmish, night clubs etc.

When was Dazzleland opened/closed and anyone have memories of going?

[monotonehell]

When was Dazzleland opened/closed and anyone have memories of going?

They certainly do...
http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/for ... f=4&t=2706

[pushbutton]

At the end of the day there's not much (fun stuff) to do in Adelaide because when someone spends a lot of money to build something to do, people don't use it enough so it closes down!

As for opening cinemas in the CBD, I doubt anyone would be brave enough to do that now given that in the 90s we had Greater Union, Hoyts, Wallis, and even Imax, and now all 4 complexes have closed.

For some reason I cannot quite figure out, it seems nobody wants to go to the cinema in the city in Adelaide.

Of course there's more than enough cinemas all over the suburbs, but it seems odd that CBD cinemas didn't work because there's plenty of them in other cities and they seem to do very well elsewhere.

[Nathan]

At the end of the day there's not much (fun stuff) to do in Adelaide because when someone spends a lot of money to build something to do, people don't use it enough so it closes down!

As for opening cinemas in the CBD, I doubt anyone would be brave enough to do that now given that in the 90s we had Greater Union, Hoyts, Wallis, and even Imax, and now all 4 complexes have closed.

For some reason I cannot quite figure out, it seems nobody wants to go to the cinema in the city in Adelaide.

Of course there's more than enough cinemas all over the suburbs, but it seems odd that CBD cinemas didn't work because there's plenty of them in other cities and they seem to do very well elsewhere.

Why does everyone forget about Palace Nova? They also appear to be doing very well for themselves.

[monotonehell]

At the end of the day there's not much (fun stuff) to do in Adelaide because when someone spends a lot of money to build something to do, people don't use it enough so it closes down!

As for opening cinemas in the CBD, I doubt anyone would be brave enough to do that now given that in the 90s we had Greater Union, Hoyts, Wallis, and even Imax, and now all 4 complexes have closed.

For some reason I cannot quite figure out, it seems nobody wants to go to the cinema in the city in Adelaide.

Of course there's more than enough cinemas all over the suburbs, but it seems odd that CBD cinemas didn't work because there's plenty of them in other cities and they seem to do very well elsewhere.

Why does everyone forget about Palace Nova? They also appear to be doing very well for themselves.

I know! Why do I seem to be repeating this every month? Palace/Nova is a multi screen cinema complex that incorporates the old IMAX screen. They show main stream movies as well as World movies. The big difference is that they are discerning when it comes to crap mainstream movies and only show "good ones".

[Waewick]

The Nova Cinema is great and I am one of those people who under utilise it

[skyliner]

At the end of the day there's not much (fun stuff) to do in Adelaide because when someone spends a lot of money to build something to do, people don't use it enough so it closes down!

As for opening cinemas in the CBD, I doubt anyone would be brave enough to do that now given that in the 90s we had Greater Union, Hoyts, Wallis, and even Imax, and now all 4 complexes have closed.

For some reason I cannot quite figure out, it seems nobody wants to go to the cinema in the city in Adelaide.

Of course there's more than enough cinemas all over the suburbs, but it seems odd that CBD cinemas didn't work because there's plenty of them in other cities and they seem to do very well elsewhere.

Why does everyone forget about Palace Nova? They also appear to be doing very well for themselves.

I know! Why do I seem to be repeating this every month? Palace/Nova is a multi screen cinema complex that incorporates the old IMAX screen. They show main stream movies as well as World movies. The big difference is that they are discerning when it comes to crap mainstream movies and only show "good ones".

In answer to the bold section - that is a point I have wondered about and cannot come up with an answer - a strange feature of Adelaide CBD methinks.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[crawf]

Its not just Adelaide, our closest rival Perth has a similar problem aswell. Suburban megaplexes have killed of cinemas in the city.

Though they have at least one main cinema complex in the city and eventually I can see on the major cinemas returning back to the Adelaide CBD. Its just finding the right location