Melbourne Places

The corner of Hotham and Inkerman Streets seems an unlikely place to find a flourishing Op Shop.  None-the-less this corner is home to a Sacred Heart Mission Opportunity Shop.

It has been here for a couple of years and although there isn’t much foot traffic it is a busy corner for road traffic.  There is free [...]

Gattica  Restaurant on Carlisle Street,  Balaclava is a favourite place of a friend of mine  who lives in Fitzroy North.  He is delighted when he has business around St Kilda East so he can head to Gattica.  His is always talking about the coffee and the Hash Stack he has there.
With such a recommendation I [...]

When a cafe has been operating for a few years it may seem a waste of time reviewing it – others have done so before – but I believe Melbourne Places needs to visit and talk about the old favourites.  Not everyone knows these places.  Not every well known cafe lives up to its original [...]

W-class trams date back to the 1930’s.

W-class Tram at the corner of Chapel and Carlisle Street
A W-class tram was the first tram I rode in Melbourne.  It was before I lived here and in the days when there was a conductor on board.
I clambered up the high wooden step and sat on a hard seat [...]

Batch!  Why do  people chose the names they do for their businesses- I’m always curious about that?

Batch in Carlisle Street, East St Kilda !
When Batch was first mentioned to me and I heard that the owner was a New Zealander and that he uses a sort of Kiwiana  decor I immediately thought of New Zealand’s [...]

The say good things come in small packages and the St Kilda, Salvation Army Opportunity Shop is proof of this.  They have downsized.  In doing so they have created a much better outlet in Carlisle Street than the previous one on the corner of Inkerman Street and St Kilda Road.

That huge rambling and messy warehouse [...]

The St Kilda community has created a wall to bring people together rather than shut them off from each other.  They are calling it the Great Wall of St Kilda.
This wall is 11 metres x 5 meters and made of clay tiles, in total 807 tiles.

Two hundred and seven large tiles that capture characters and [...]

The Carlisle Street Bazaar opened just before Christmas adding another retail experience to shopping in the piece of Carlisle Street around the Balaclava Rail Station.
This Carlisle Street Bazaar replaces a store where I often browsed.  It was one of those stores that covered an eclectic range merchandise – clothes, furniture, home ware, jewelery, gifts.    All [...]

A cold evening, showers and a chill wind, your heading home and the big question is what to eat.    Take-a-ways seem a good idea and you want something quick.
How about The Hearty Hungarian, in Carlisle Street East St Kilda?

The food is ready to go – no waiting around.  All you have to do is make [...]

Carlisle Street in East St Kilda was the Melbourne Place I got to know well when I first came to Melbourne.  It was here I became familiar with Russian and Eastern European food for the first time.
The St Kilda Library in Carlisle Street has a large selection of Polish and Russian books in their foreign [...]