Norton Street, Leichhardt, Sydney

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Norton Street, Sydney is located in the suburb of Leichhardt in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located 5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the main commercial street in the suburb.

Norton Street contains a mix of residential buildings, restaurants (Italian and others), cafés, eateries and individual retail outlets, including several bookstores and grocery shops. There are also hotels, a Palace Cinema and two of the suburb’s three shopping centres: Norton Plaza and the Italian Forum.

Norton Street was once a working class area populated primarily by first and second generation Italian migrants. These days, many of the original inhabitants have moved to outlying suburbs, and the area has gentrified but the Italian flavour remains with Norton Street as its centrepiece. Throughout Sydney it is known as "Little Italy". Thronged with eateries, most of them Italian, it's a place to eat, drink coffee, see a movie, and take part in the passegiata ^[1].

At the southern end of the street is the Italian Forum ^[2], notable for its design which seeks to emulate the feel of a Mediterranean town piazza featuring a fountain, ringed by cafés and upmarket fashion shops.

Norton Street

Italian Forum entrance, Norton Street

Piazza at the Italian Forum

Norton Hotel

1 Events and Celebrations
2 Transport
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Events and Celebrations

During important events such as the Soccer World Cup, the street is closed and thousands of soccer fans gather to party [1]. It is also the centre of an annual festival called the Italian Fiesta, held in March/April.

[edit] Transport

Norton Street is serviced by the 436, 437, 438 or 440 Sydney Buses ^[3] via Parramatta Road and the Metro Light Rail to Lilyfield and walking about 10 minutes.