Judy Evans - Cosmopolitan Village
COMING HOME TO AVONDALE
For Judy Evans, Avondale isn’t just somewhere she lives — it’s a place that has been part of her story for more than 60 years.
Judy first arrived in Avondale in 1965, aged just 16, when she left Kaitaia to attend Teachers College. In those days, young women heading to Auckland to study were expected to live in supervised accommodation, and Judy’s home for the next two years was Taranaki House on Rosebank Road.
But life wasn’t all study.
The young women explored Avondale, went to the Hollywood Theatre, attended St Jude’s Church youth group and made good use of the old trolley buses that ran from the corner of Rosebank Road and Great North Road.
“We loved the trolley bus. It was great,” Judy recalls.
After completing her teacher training, Judy’s career took her well beyond Avondale. She trained as a teacher of deaf children, worked at the School for the Deaf in Kelston, travelled and taught overseas, and even spent four years working in a hospital in West Berlin.
Eventually, though, she came back to the west.
Judy returned to Avondale in 2008, moving into Cosmopolitan Village on her 60th birthday. She was among the very first residents — about number four — and has now been part of the village community for around 18 years.
The connection to Avondale was an important part of her decision.
“I still had a lot of friends here from the School for the Deaf,” she says, along with connections from her time working at the New Zealand Herald.
There was also something familiar about being back in a place she had known as a teenager.
Cosmopolitan Village itself has an interesting Avondale story. The development was built by the Wu family and was originally intended to provide student accommodation. Following objections during the resource consent process, the plans changed and the building became a retirement village instead.
Today, the small complex provides something quite different from many of the larger retirement villages around Auckland. With just 38 apartments, ranging from studios to two-bedroom units, it offers an affordable option for people who want to remain independent while still having a sense of community.
Judy speaks warmly of the Wu family and their commitment to the village.
“They are wonderful. They’re very compassionate,” she says, noting that the family has worked hard over the years to keep the village affordable and has supported it through some challenging times.
For Judy, one of the great strengths of Cosmopolitan Village is its balance. There is a genuine community around her, but residents don’t have to participate if they don’t want to. There are regular afternoon coffee and catch-ups, outings and shared occasions, while residents are also free to come and go as they please.
Living in a small community has its challenges, Judy says, but her early experience of communal living at Taranaki House may have helped prepare her for it.
“You meet other people who like doing what you do,” she says — although, she adds, living closely with others also requires plenty of patience.
And then there is Avondale itself.
Judy has watched the area change dramatically since those early days when Rosebank Road was largely paddocks and orchards and the area felt very different from the busy town centre it is today.
She likes the fact that Avondale still has a village feel.
“I quite enjoy the village atmosphere of the little shops,” she says. “People have got time to chat, and the small shops help you carry stuff to your car, which is a nice thing that you don’t get when you go to a mall.”
She appreciates having almost everything she needs close by — the doctor, library, shops, Hollywood Theatre and community organisations.
Judy also enjoys Avondale’s multicultural character and the way the community continues to evolve. She notices the many different cultures represented as she walks from Cosmopolitan Village down towards the local shops.
She is also looking forward to the new community centre and what it might bring, particularly opportunities for older residents to take part in activities such as fitness classes.
For someone with a lifelong interest in history, Judy has also found plenty to explore locally. Her museum background has led her to investigate Avondale’s industrial and clay-making history, and she enjoys attending the local Historical Society meetings and visiting the library.
She is particularly interested in the stories that connect Avondale’s past with its future.
And perhaps that is what makes Judy’s story so fitting for Avondale.
She first knew the area as a 16-year-old student, when trolley buses ran along Great North Road, Rosebank Road was lined with orchards and the Hollywood Theatre was a favourite destination for a group of young teachers-in-training.
More than six decades later, she is still here — watching the neighbourhood change, remembering what was, appreciating what is, and looking forward to what comes next.
“I like that identity feeling of being a Westie,” Judy says.
It has been a place to learn, leave, return to — and, ultimately, call home.
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