386 Crown St, Surry Hills

G’day, Charles Touma here and today I’m just down the road of 386 Crown Street in the magnificent Surry Hills to talk about two extraordinary brothers that used to ply their trade here. Adam and Morris Perkal were holocaust survivors from the 2nd World War, having lived in Warsaw, Poland just as Hitler marched in to turn their world upside down. Their mother and youngest brother died during the aerial raid bombings of the city. The two brothers attempted to escape to Russia, but Adam came back to help his family in the Warsaw ghetto, Morris managed to escape to a Uzbekistan and worked as a Shoemaker in Russia for the rest of the war. Eventually the Gestapo arrested Adam, which meant he spent the rest of the war in three concentration camps. The two brothers as well as their older brother, Paul, migrated to Australia in 1948. Adam and Morris found jobs by making shoes and by 1954 had decided to start their own operation which was called Perkal Brothers. Initially this was based at 209 Hay Street in the Haymarket area of Sydney, later moving to 126 Hay Street and then here to 386 Crown Street in Surry Hills. In the first year of trade they received an order from Queen Elizabeth for a pair of golden slippers. One day the King of Tonga came into the shop looking for the brothers to make the Queen Solate a pair of size 22 shoes.

The Bee Gees came into the shop one day to order some shoes but didn’t have enough money for the deposit. In 1964 when the Beatles toured Australia, they asked the Perkals to come to their Kings Cross Hotel to make them some very specific black boots with Cuban heels. These boots started a trend around the world, and became known as the “Beatle boot.” They made shoes for many politicians, including Bob Hawke and Bob Carr. They made some patent leather shoes for the great Frank Sinatra and Mick Jagger. However, their most regular customer was Kerry Packer, who marched into their shop one day desperate to get a pair of Polo boots made for his size 14 feet by the following day for his first ever polo match. The Perkals didn’t know Packer so they told him that this was not possible. Packer asked them what the boots would cost, and they said $750. He offered them $1500 to have them ready by the next day and the deal was done. Over the years, Packer would order polo boots almost every month, including one occasion ordering six pairs of boots that were put on his plane and flown to him in England for the Polo World Cup, which Packer’s team ended up winning.

The Perkals moved to 386 Crown Street in 1995 and as well as servicing the upmarket crowd, they also built shoes for disabled children, often designing them to fit their disability and help the children walk. This became their passion. The workshop became an iconic landmark building until the brothers passed away within two weeks of each other in 2003, both in their 90s. They were still working up to their passing. Local historian, John Walter Ross has written a fantastic book about the Perkal brothers which I’ll link to in the post. Now, I’ve been selling real estate in the Redfern and Surry Hills area for 20 years and I feel we need to celebrate extraordinary legends like the Perkal brothers. My name’s Charles Touma and my office on Thurlow Street is always open for you to come in and have a chat.