The Land Before Time: West Ryde

You want suburbia? I'll give you suburbia.

West Ryde

Ryde is the closest thing Sydney has to an empire. You've got Ryde, North Ryde, East Ryde, and this is West Ryde. I just found out that Top Ryde is not a suburb. I'm shocked too.

The Rydes are in that kind of forgotten middle bit of Sydney. They're west, but not that west, they're north, but not that north and they're near Parramatta River, but not near enough to matter. Let's see if West Ryde is as forgettable as its location.

West Ryde has the honour of being the Ryde which has a Northern Line train station. From Central, 26 exciting minutes pass before you're in this very bog standard suburban train station.

I started with the eastern exit of the station, finding myself in a quiet commercial area.

Apart from a few ethnic supermarkets,

this side of West Ryde is a little bit like the land that time forgot. There are a few abandoned, old-school electronics and white good stores,

and this place which a quick Google search suggests once sold gun accessories.

The crane looming in the background suggests that old West Ryde's days may be numbered.

Further up the street is Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, where you can enjoy discounted meals subsidised by people with gambling addictions.

I took a turn behind the club and ended up at the very lovely Anzac Park.

This park features BBQ facilities,

a war memorial, a children's playground,

as well as pigeons sitting down,

and this bird standing up.

I left the park and continued on. One block from the park is the very important Victoria Road which houses this heritage water pumping station.

Interestingly, just next door is this house which was once the home of the pumping station manager.

Having absorbed east-West Ryde, it was time to cross back to the station over to the suburb's other side.

Over here, things are a little more from the current century.

Yes, you do have this odd little cafe and bakery,

but, in stark contrast to the shops I'd just been through, you've also got new apartments over a new supermarket.

For some reason, outside the Coles is an onion you can chillax in,

and across the road is Old King Coles' arch nemesis.

The rest of this side of West Ryde's commercial zone isn't that interesting.

Although this one chemist will BEAT ANY PRICE!!! (in West Ryde). How many chemists even are there in West Ryde?

From here it was time to head into residential West Ryde on the way to my next suburb.

This is old school suburbia.

Your choices are mid-twentieth-century red brick,

fibro,

or knock and rebuild.

If you're real clever, you can sticky tape a second level on top of your existing home.

There are a few exceptions though, such as these two roofy bois.

West Ryde makes me nostalgic. I grew up in a suburb just like this - modest and uninteresting houses on big blocks of land. Being that the asking price of one of these houses is now in the seven figures, it's only a matter of time before these old houses are replaced with duplexes and McMansions.

It's not a bad thing per se, but it will be sad to see its end.

With my pretending to be deep completed, I continued on to my next suburb.

West Ryde: A trip down memory lane.