Hey Hey Kebab

The HEY HEY KEBAB sign glows above its shopfront on Parramatta Road. The neon tubes are shaped into hand-cursive letters in pink and yellow, the only lit-up element on the block. The shop's interior is visible through the front, lit in fluorescent white. The pavement underneath reflects the neon in long bars of pink and yellow. Traffic on Parramatta Road moves through the foreground. The frame is dark except for the sign, the road, and a few smaller window-lights from neighbouring shopfronts further down. The photograph was made at night because the sign is the subject.

Late-night kebab shops are one of the resilient categories along this stretch of Parramatta Road. Where antique stores, motels, and milk bars have closed, takeaway food has held on. The trade is built on weekend traffic out of the city, locals coming home after midnight, and the steady appetite of the inner-west's overnight workforce. The neon vernacular along Parramatta Road dates back decades. Most of the older signage has been removed, replaced with backlit perspex or printed vinyl. The shops that keep their lights on after hours have generally also kept their original signs. Hey Hey Kebab's pink and yellow tubes are part of the corridor's surviving neon inventory.