Melbourne Laneway Culture

Friday March 8 was a mainly cloudy but pleasantly warm day with a high of 27C.  Happy International Women's Day to all!

We started our day with a coffee at The Little Denn, a place recommended by our Free Tour guide.  It was on another laneway, called Centre Place, just off Flinders Lane, about a five minute walk from our apartment.

Inside The Little Denn-- great painting of the laneway on the back wall 

Looking in as we were leaving-- Alain with his red shoes is talking to the Barista

The laneway culture in Melbourne is fantastic.   They are full of life with coffee shops, boutiques and lots of small restaurants.  Centre Place laneway was very busy at around noon.

The laneway scene-- lots of places with takeout sandwiches

View from a bit of height

We stopped in a few shops.  Melbourne seems to like fun socks.  We liked these: "I'm a Girl, What's your Super Power" and "This Meeting is Bullshit".

Hmm.... maybe Trudeau needs some new socks

We then walked through two of the fantastic arcades.  The first is the Brock Arcade.  There is an amazing place called the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, which dates back to 1892.   The cakes in the window look divine.  Apparently, one needs to make reservations days in advance to get a seat.

Hopetoun Tea Rooms

Alain in the Brock Arcade

We then went to the Royal Arcade which is just across the street and stopped at Koko Black, a fabulous Australian chocolate store that opened in 2003.  We got a dark chocolate bar with plums.

Chocolate store

As we continued our walk we looked up and noticed four sculptures on the four corners of the intersection of Burke and Swanston.  There is a flying pig, horse, fish and a bird.  I found out that these sculptures were done by artist Daniel Jenkins (b. 1947) called Windvanes.  The flying pig is made of copper and apparently represents the future ("when pigs fly"); the horse symbolizes culture and sport; the fish suggests Victorian waterways and the bird represents the many birds found in Melbourne's parks.

Fish

Horse

If pigs could fly

Bird

I also took a picture of a typical paving stone in Melbourne.  Our tour guide told us that the stones are  volcanic rock and the pock marks are lava bubbles.

Typical paving stone with lava bubbles

The first destination of our lazy day was the Tourist Information office located in Town Hall.  Unfortunately, Australian tourism is not as thorough and organised as the New Zealand I-Site Visitor Centres.  We got some info on events happening in Melbourne but the office does not do bookings for out-of- town tours anymore.  It was suggested that we go to Half-Tix, also located in the Town Hall.  The woman there was very helpful and we will go there tomorrow and book tours of the Great Ocean Road and Mornington Peninsula.


We then wanted to check out a Gallery of Original and Authentic Aboriginal Art.  It was a lovely gallery, that has operated for 30 years.  The gallerist was very knowledgeable and talked about the modernity and the symbolism of Australian Aboriginal Art.  We ended up getting a small piece (10 x 10 inches) that we can stretch on a frame, when we get back to Toronto.

Outside of gallery

Beautiful art in gallery

Wall with art

We bought a smaller version of this piece called "Waterholes"-- about the importance of water
All the pieces are linked to the geography of Australia and the connectiveness of the aboriginal people and the land

We then wandered through a number of other laneways in the Italian precinct.

We liked this artist

Fakebook...

We stopped at Pellegrini's Espresso Bar for a coffee.  Pellegrini's Espresso Bar is the oldest coffee shop in Melbourne having opened in 1954.  The decor and the menu haven't changed since the restaurant opened.  We just had a coffee (OK, but not great).  A number of people were eating a delicious looking minestrone soup and there were a number of cakes being served mid-afternoon.  Apparently, their pastas, which can vary daily, are very good.  It was originally owned by the Pellegrini brothers, and changed hands only once in 1974 when Sisto Malaspina and Nino Pangrazio took over.

We had noticed a sign in the Bar that Sisto Malaspina had died last November.  We later learned that he was the 74 year old man that was fatally stabbed in the November 2018 terrorist attack in Melbourne.  The attack took place near the corner with the four sculptures on the posts that we had passed earlier in the day.  Nino Pangrazio and his son were in the restaurant when we were there.

The decor and counter are the same as in 1954

We continued to explore the Italian precinct.

I Adough you--- a small pizza place down a laneway

We returned to the laneway with the street art we had seen on our free tour

Apple computer

It was time for an aperitivo.  We stopped at The Mess Hall and had two lovely spritzes.  The bartender said they were doing two variations on the usual Aperol or Campari spritzes.  One was made with Cynar and the other with Pimm's.  I had the Cynar and Alain the Pimm's.  Cynar is an Italian bitter liqueur made from 13 herbs and plants, with artichoke being the predominant flavour.  Both Spritzes were very good.  We also shared an order of zucchini fritters.

The Mess Hall

Lovely bar and limited interesting menu

Cynar Spritz

Pimm's Spritz

We walked down to Flinders Lane and headed back to the apartment.  We passed Hosier Lane with the great Jimi Hendrix street art.

Jimi Hendrix whom I saw play in Toronto in 1969

More street art

We found a new arcade that we hadn't explored before, called Cathedral Arcade.  The Art Deco arcade dates back to 1925.  The stained glass ceilings are wonderful.  The Arcade is located on the main floor of the Nicholas Building, which is now a Heritage site.  The building had been commissioned by brothers George and Alfred Nicholas, who made their fortune through Aspro, a tablet form of Aspirin.  It was designed in 1924 by Harry A. Norris.

Cathedral Arcade

We then walked through the Degraves Street pedestrian laneway.  Lots of folks having early dinners outside.

A small laneway off Degraves Street pedestrian laneway

We went back to the apartment for a chicken dinner.  It was a lazy day in Melbourne exploring the city and its Laneway Culture.