When he was growing up in Parramatta, Tony Sleiman felt as though he was living on the neglected outskirts of Sydney. The 28-year-old has no such feelings now as he sits in his busy, funky cafe two blocks from the family home. ''It's like I'm living in the centre of Sydney,'' he says. ''[Parramatta] is the future and you can feel it in the air. It's amazing.''
Local hyperbole? Only this month, Hugh Jackman has been filming scenes for his Wolverine movie in Parramatta, pop-up eateries and bars in its laneways have been part of the Crave food festival and the city received an enthusiastic thumbs-up visit from American ''placemaking'' guru Ethan Kent, responsible for creating vibrant public spaces such as Times Square, Hell's Kitchen and the Meatpacking District in New York.
Mr Kent said Parramatta's river, colonial heritage gems, parklands, multiculturalism and small spaces could give it an exciting urban future. His visit even had the website Architecture Source posing the question: ''Is Parramatta the next iconic city?''
The website said that although ''Parramatta is hardly front-of-mind when one thinks of cities with strong architectural, economic, cultural and social reputations'', Mr Kent had labelled it a diamond in the rough. ''Parramatta is so exciting because it has a number of diverse elements,'' he said. ''All these areas provide the city with an opportunity to create its own unique identity.''
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Last night, the bars and restaurants along Parramatta's Church Street were packed with fans there for its first A-League soccer derby between Sydney FC and the new Western Sydney Wanderers.
The match was a 20,000-strong sell-out at Parramatta Stadium, the Wanderers' home ground.
The club had discussed where it should be based - fans and the chairman of the Wanderers, Lyall Gorman, said the message was overwhelmingly Parramatta because the fans saw it not only as the west's historic heart but also its happening hub.
Next month it will host its third annual Parramasala festival, a celebration of the arts and culture of south Asia.
The artistic director of Parramasala, Philip Rolfe, formerly an executive producer at the Opera House, said in the three years he'd been involved in the festival he had seen ''huge changes'' and Parramatta had become a far more sophisticated place.
So rich is the cultural life, there's even a Time Out insider's guide to Parramatta now, he said. Rolfe said that despite the sceptics, the city was buzzing - from the exciting cafe, bar and restaurant culture to fantastic live music venues, the Riverside Theatres and pop-up work spaces for artists in empty buildings.
''[Parramatta] is emulating what the City of Sydney has started to do with a lot of the dead parts of the Sydney that are much more lively now,'' he said.
Just a few years ago, many Church Street shop fronts were boarded up but now it is a thriving entertainment strip, Rolfe said. Upmarket apartment blocks were being built in the central business district and government and businesses were clearly committed to making Parramatta a better place to live, he said.
The lord mayor, John Chedid, said he wanted to create ''a city that welcomes its people, a city that's out there looking to go to the next level''.
Parramatta already had rich assets such as the river foreshore, heritage buildings and plenty of jobs thanks to government and private sector investment, Cr Chedid said. The challenge was to make it a place where people also simply ''enjoyed'' being because of improved social interaction.
''We want people to be able to come here and have the whole package: live, work and enjoy,'' he said.
A key part of the plan is Parramatta Square, a public-private partnership project that will mean a large area of the CBD north of the railway line is redeveloped with cutting-edge high-rise and open space.
Cr Chedid said building should start by the middle of next year and the project would be completed within eight years, bringing up to 15,000 new residents to the CBD and another 15,000 workers.
Drug addicts and the homeless still congregate in Church Street mall but there are also children playing on the swings, Chinese women practising fan dancing, the smell of incense, a South American musician playing a pipe flute and a growers' market where the best-selling artisan bread is a $7.50 quinoa and soya five seeds organic sourdough loaf.
And if laneway enterprises are the new barometer of what makes a place cool and happening, it's hard to question Mr Sleiman's argument that Parramatta is a place on the move.
Mr Sleiman is a partner in Circa Espresso, a hole-in-the-wall cafe that opened two years ago, and opened another laneway cafe, Three Ropes, in July.
Next year there will be a laneway bakery/patisserie, laneway coffee roasting house and laneway wine bar.
While some people in Sydney's east still view Parramatta as the bogan capital of the city's desolate west, Mr Sleiman sees a Parramatta that will eventually dominate as the cultural centre of Sydney, attracting the best bands, sporting events, restaurants, artists and architecture.
''The population growth out here is amazing,'' says Mr Sleiman who is a son of Lebanese migrants. ''Lots of people are bringing new ideas. People are finally opening their eyes to what's happening here.''
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/no-longer-the-rough-diamond-20121020-27y4s.html
