Last week I asked where you go for a good pizza, and 148 of you weighed in. Bella Brutta came out on top – though it was close – with Made In Italy and Frank's hot on its heels and a big field of local favourites behind them. Bella Brutta is obviously amazing, but being at the top of Missenden Rd, on King St, it's a decent trek. So it speaks volumes about the gastronomic standards of Annandale that we're willing to travel for the top tier.

Plenty of you wrote in with pizza places the poll left off, and those comments run in full in Letters, below.

This Facebook post on the Johnston St Witches' Houses blew my mind. Turns out Mark Twain was hosted at Kenilworth, the spired beauty second from the left, in 1897 when a broke Sir Henry Parkes was living there rent-free. On that trip, Twain left us a line for the ages: 'God made the Harbor, but Satan made Sydney.' I've walked past those houses a many times without knowing the man who wrote Huckleberry Finn once did the same. Note that Kenilworth still stands at 260 Johnston, gothic spire and all, but the grand neighbour beside it is long gone, a red-brick block in its place. (Source: Annandale 2038 FB Group)

Sydney keeps growing, and the tired old Parramatta Rd strip is finally growing with it. On Monday the NSW government put out plans for 340 apartments on the disused WestConnex dive site at Haberfield. It's one of several jobs marching down the corridor: a 12-storeys and 128 homes has just been approved at 307-315 Parramatta Rd in Leichhardt, and last year's Annandale dive site was picked for 220 subsidised homes for teachers, nurses and police. The iconic old Camperdown Fitness is also set to go: there's an early proposal there for a 24-storey tower with 180 flats, and it would need a rezoning to go that tall. With any luck the whole strip ends up a nicer place to be for it. Thanks to local Ian for keeping us abreast of what's happening. (Source: Inner West Council FB Page, Inner West Council Instagram)

Still on Parra road, and following last week's "Annandale DMZ" story, Justine wrote in with a Parramatta Rd puzzle she only clocked after 25 years being a local. "The odds numbers are on the south side, from the city to Bridge Road. Once you cross Bridge Road, the numbers then flip to evens on the South [Stanmore] side, and the odds move over to Annandale west of Mathieson St." Her question stands: "I've never seen the odds and evens move to the other side of the road. I wonder what the reason is?" One for the Annandale trivia nerds like myself, no doubt.

Councillor Philippa Scott, one of the councillors who represents Annandale along with Haberfield and Leichhardt, won election as deputy mayor at the council's meeting on 1 September. It is her second term in the role. Councillors re-elected Darcy Byrne as mayor at the same meeting. Scott, a local parent and former P&C president, has helped lead the council's infrastructure and budget work, including the Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre upgrade now in its final stage. (Source: Inner West Council news)

Sincerely,

Mark (resident of Annandale)