Words: Lara Pacillo // Photos: Sam Dalton and Saige Prime
For the last 20 years, the basement of 52 Hindley Street has been mostly empty.
When Plus One Co. came across the space in 2020 looking for a permanent spot to host their iconic genre-specific club nights — including Transmission, Call Me Maybe, and No Future among others — they saw it as their canvas.
The basement needed a lot of work but catered to the team’s dream of throwing Plus One Co. parties on Hindley Street.
“To give an idea of what it looked like, back then it was warehousy, really abandoned, rubbish everywhere,” recalls Station Arcade co-owner and Plus One Co. co-director Ross Osmon.
“We’ve always thrown parties in lots of different places around Adelaide like Rhino Room, Lion Arts Factory, Fat Controller, Jive, but we’ve never really done them on Hindley.
“This venue allowed us to have our own space to throw our parties and have more control over them.”
Three years on since club co-owners Ross, Alex Karatassa, Craig Lock, and Justin Walkden, first visited the venue, 52 Hindley Street has now been given the love it deserves, launching as Station Arcade over the weekend.
The dynamic space caters to the diversity of genres that the Plus One Co. parties bring. The club night rotates every Friday, leaving Saturdays to focus on “really accessible party pop music”.
“The idea is you come down here, and you’re always going to know the song playing,” Ross says.
“We want this to be a place for everyone,” Alex adds.
Craig and Justin did most of the build themselves, from installing bathrooms to booths, with a key lighting feature by Novatech that stretches the length of the ceiling.
“We’ve programmed so many club nights and hosted so many shows — lighting is the main thing that makes a difference to level up an event,” Alex explains.
One of the team’s favourite elements of Station Arcade is the bar. On tap is Vodka Cruiser, Hard Solo, Brookvale Union, as well as beer from Melbourne Bitter, Pirate Life and Great Northern. Classic cocktails including espresso martinis and mojitos are made to order, which, along with the usual club spirit menu, means there’s something for everyone.
The come-up story behind Plus One Co. is a testament to asking, “Why not?”
What began in 2004 as a Saturday indie club night at Rhino Room with Transmission, the team decided to increase their capacity and take the leap of throwing their club nights interstate.
Plus One Co. reached out to venues in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth, slowly stretching their national reach and adding new dedicated club nights — including hip-hop, emo and punk, and throwback — along the way.
“Then COVID hit, and you couldn’t dance anywhere,” Ross shares.
“We were like, ‘What do we do now? We’re kind of a bit stuck here’.
“We did some research; Perth was dancing, and so was New Zealand. So we were like, ‘Do you think we could go to different countries?’ We hit up some venues in New Zealand and it worked.”
Post-pandemic saw the scope expand further, breaking into European and Asian markets. Plus One Co. now hosts about 700 parties globally each year.
“It’s cool because it’s this little company based in Adelaide,” Alex says. “To go from Rhino Room basement with 300 people to now seeing footage of our club nights in Auckland and around the world with the dance floors filled, amazing DJs, and this community being built — it’s so wild. We did that.”
Plus One Co. has grown a team of DJs around the country and world who they call on to hit the decks or fly in and out for shows. The club nights also act as a platform to support younger DJs starting out.
“We love working with new DJs that have been aspiring to find somewhere to play, but they might not be ready for the main stage at a mega club,” Alex says. “I really love that the Plus One parties have given that opportunity to people, and it’s something that will continue here at Station Arcade.”
Ross notes they’ll “never say no to anything for the future” with Station Arcade having big potential for gigs, private events, runways — nothing’s off the table.
“We just want to cultivate a good community here,” Ross says. “We want anyone to be able to come down here and have fun, every time you walk down the stairs.”
Station Arcade: 52 Hindley Street Adelaide 5000
