The Pink Poodle was a motel in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. It was located on the corner of Fern Street and the Gold Coast Highway. Although no longer extant, its signage remains and is listed on the Gold Coast Local Heritage Register. [1]
The Pink Poodle was built in 1967 and features a neon sign of a pink poodle. Many felt it was synonymous with the "glitzy" allure of the Gold Coast and it was frequently used as an image to depict the Gold Coast. The motel was demolished in 2004 but the sign was preserved and relocated a short distance to 18 Fern Street. A bar and restaurant in the new development that replaced it bears the name "The Pink Poodle". [2]
In 2005, the National Trust of Queensland nominated the sign to be one of Queensland's Heritage Icons. [2]
In 2015, the signage appeared on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post as part of its Signs of the Times series. [3]
In 1995, author Matthew Condon published a novel, A Night at the Pink Poodle, about the rise and fall of a Gold Coast highrise apartment salesman. [4]
In 2024, surfer and author Larry Blair with co-author Jeremy Goring, reference the "Pink Poodle" in their book, "The Outside", which details Blair's life with criminal parents. His stepfather, Frank "Baldy" Blair, while on the run following the infamous Mayne Nickless armored car heist, indicated he was going to purchase the Pink Poodle.
The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of the state capital, Brisbane. It is Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane, as well as Australia's sixth-largest city and the most populous non-capital city. The city's central business district is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast, sprawling almost 60 kilometres, joining up with the Greater Brisbane metropolitan region to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south. Nicknames of the city include the ‘Glitter Strip’ and the ‘Goldy’. The demonym of a Gold Coast resident is Gold Coaster.
Surfers Paradise is a town and the suburban capital of the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the suburb of Surfers Paradise had a population of 26,412 people.
Q1 Tower is a 322.5-metre (1,058 ft) supertall skyscraper in Queensland, Australia. The residential tower on the Gold Coast was the world's tallest residential building from 2005 to 2011. It is the tallest building in Australia, the second tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, and the third-tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, behind the Autograph Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand. The Q1 officially opened in November 2005.
Broadbeach is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Broadbeach had a population of 6,786 people.
Burleigh Heads is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Burleigh Heads had a population of 10,572 people.
Nerang is a town and suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the suburb of Nerang had a population of 17,048 people.
The Skipping Girl Sign or Skipping Girl Vinegar Sign, colloquially known as Little Audrey is an historic animated neon sign in the inner Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, and was possibly the first animated neon sign in Australia when first erected in 1936. It advertised the Skipping Girl Vinegar brand, and was placed on top of the factory at 627 Victoria Street, Abbotsford. Removed in 1968, a reproduction was placed on a nearby factory at 651 Victoria Street in 1970 following a public outcry.
The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging 4.47-kilometre (2.78 mi) track, alongside a strip of beaches, had several fast sections and four chicanes. The event had various names during its history for sponsorship reasons; in its final year, it was known as the Nikon Indy 300.
Miami is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Miami had a population of 7,445 people.
Benowa is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Benowa had a population of 9,889 people.
Bundall is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Bundall had a population of 4,895 people.
Chevron Renaissance is a $400 million development on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia comprising 713 individually owned residential lots located above the Chevron Renaissance Shopping Centre. The onsite management of Chevron Renaissance residential lots is managed by Accor under the brand name of Mantra Towers of Chevron, previously The Towers of Chevron Renaissance.
Gold Coast Highway links the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast in south eastern Queensland such as Miami, Mermaid Beach, Tugun, Bilinga and across the border of New South Wales to the Tweed Heads suburb of Tweed Heads West. At 39.6 kilometres (24.6 mi) in length, the highway runs just west of Pacific Motorway at Pacific Pines to Pacific Motorway at Tweed Heads West. It passes through the numerous popular tourist areas including Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, a commercial centre at Southport, residential areas, shopping centres and the Gold Coast (Coolangatta) Airport.
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The 2.960 km (1.839 mi) beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original 4.470 km (2.778 mi) length in 2010. It is the third of three motor racing circuits that have existed in the Gold Coast region, after the Southport Road Circuit (1954–1955) and Surfers Paradise International Raceway (1966–1987).
Ferry Road is a road in Southport, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Originally a suburban street, it is now part of Southport–Burleigh Road, a state controlled road
Cavill Avenue is a street and a pedestrian mall in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is in the heart of the Surfers Paradise shopping and entertainment district. It was named in honour of the man credited as the founder of Surfers Paradise, James Cavill, known as Jim Cavill.
The 2011 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was a motor race for the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars racing cars. It was the eleventh event of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on the weekend of 21 to 23 October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland. It was the tenth V8 Supercar championship event held at the circuit, the second running of the Gold Coast 600, and the eighteenth annual overall Australian Touring Car event at the circuit, and the twenty-first race meet overall at the street circuit, dating back to the 1991 CART race.
The following is a timeline of history of the city of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Kinkabool is a heritage-listed apartment block at 32–34 Hanlan Street, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by John M. Morton of Lund Hutton Newell Black & Paulsen and built from 1959 to 1960 by J D Booker Constructions Pty Ltd. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 February 2009.
The Chevron Island is an urban island that lies in the Nerang River and is a neighbourhood within the suburb of Surfers Paradise in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Media related to Pink Poodle Motel at Wikimedia Commons