Cuba Street

Cuba Street runs uphill from the waterfront end of the city and is named not for the island but for the Cuba, one of the New Zealand Company ships that arrived in 1840. Its upper section was pedestrianised in 1969 and it has been the city's alternative and creative street since: second-hand and vintage shops, record stores, independent cafes, the Southern Cross and other long-running bars, buskers most afternoons, and a density of small venues. The Bucket Fountain, installed with the mall in 1969, is a stack of tipping buckets that pour water from one to the next and reliably splash anyone standing too close - it has been repeatedly proposed for removal and repeatedly saved by public objection, which tells you something about how the street works. The heritage precinct along it is protected. It is the most walked street in Wellington and the one most people mean when they say the city has character.

History

Cuba Street was laid out on Te Āti Awa land in 1842, at first lined with single-storey wooden houses, and William Tonks set up a brickworks at the top of it in 1847. A tram ran along it from 1878, James Smiths department store opened in 1907, and the creation of Cuba Mall in 1969 helped revive the street (Wikipedia, Cuba Street).

The main sights

• The Bucket Fountain - tipping since 1969, and still soaking people.
• The pedestrian mall - the upper section, closed to traffic.
• The vintage and record shops - the trade that defines the street.
• The buskers - most afternoons along the mall.

When to go

Any season; afternoons and evenings are liveliest. Wellington weather decides how pleasant the open-air section is.

Practical notes

It is a real inner-city street with a visible street population and some rough edges at night. Many shops open late morning. Wellington wind funnels down it.

Nearby

Te Papa and the waterfront are downhill; Courtenay Place is east.

Key facts