Pillsbury Press: Free Cultural Walking Tour of Melbourne

Energized by our first free walking tour of our vacation, I immediately plowed forward to our second one, also by I'm Free Walking Tours. Fortunately for both of us, this tour was only slated to be 90 minutes long, and we missed the first few minutes because we ate lunch between tours. Encouraged by Desmond to just show up, we did. Sam allowed us to fold into his group.

This tour covered some street art, but also other cultural highlights. Desmond referred to it as the "outtakes" version of the city tour. At three hours, the main tour is already on the long side, to include these highlights would make it much too long. There was a little overlap between the two tours, but not much.

There was more overlap with the self-guided street art tour I took Don on earlier in the trip. The notes from this tour have been folded into that post.

We went to Sniders Lane famous for an enormous mural of the Kardashian sisters by controversial street artist Lush. The city keeps painting over their chests. Lush is an anonymous Australian street artist being compared to Banksy, sounds like they collaborated on Dismayland. He also created a piece with Hillary Clinton wearing a bikini made out of an American flag that was changed to her wearing a burqa when the council complained it was too revealing. It was then completely painted over.

From street art to McDonald's. The world's first McCafe was created on the corner of Swanson and Lonsdale. If there was any McDonald's that could capture my interest, it would have been this one. Well, that's not fair. I have heard from friends that McDonald's modifies its menu based on the country it is located in and it is interesting to stop inside and see what unique offerings they have. In the end, I did not go inside.

We went to Caledonian Lane, which is unique for its music scene. They boast that there is more live music here than in any other place -- twice New York City, three times London. We did not hear enough live music. They outgrew this space in the 1980s when they spilled out of the bar into the lane.

Sam took us to Postal Lane by the general post office. Delivery cars used to fit through this tiny street. Now it is filled with Thai and Italian restaurants and the central post office is a large H&M department store. In the 1850s post offices were used as the point for measuring distances in Australia.

There is an unwritten rule with street art -- you don't paint over anyone's art unless you feel you can do better.

Ceiling in Manchester Unity Arcade

Melbourne's first escalator

After a couple of more stops to look at street art, we went to the Manchester Unity Arcade built in 1932, during the depression. Men worked in eight hour shifts creating this art deco style arcade in under eight months. It is the type of place many people walk by without noticing. One of its claims to fame is it had the first set of escalators in Melbourne. When it opened, people lined up to ride it. The ceiling is in the Greek style depicting indigenous style art.

Across the street is the Melbourne Town Hall. There is an organ inside we were supposed to see, but did not. The Beatles made their first Australian appearance on that balcony. In the 1970s Jersey artist (and my grandparents' neighbor) Frank Sinatra made a scene when he came to town. During our tour there was a loud uproar as a couple tied the knot on the balcony.

Around the corner from Town Hall is Council House #2, the first SIX star energy rated building. It has a different system for summer and winter. They save millions in energy over Council House #1.

We went to Rainbow Alley and saw the famous mural Handshake #1. People hoped the signs meant something, but they don't.

On Russell Place is a paste up mural by Baby Guerilla called Princess.

Princess

This is one of the oldest parts of Melbourne dating back to the 1860's. In the 1890's residents complained of the scent of wine, which led to the rule that if you wanted to sell alcohol you also had to sell food and have beds. Fast forward a hundred years. Crown Casino wanted to build bars on the Yarra River. A small liquor license was created for small bars.

Jan Gehl, a city planner from Denmark, once noted Melbourne is like a donut -- empty in the center." Once the small bar license became law more businesses opened, and there has been a building boom. Sam called it a "jam filled donut."

The main religion of Melbourne is coffee. In the 1860s as a result of the temperance movement they began to take their coffee seriously. Pubs had to close by 6 pm so people didn't have much time to drink after their workday ended at 5 pm. Hence, the six o-clock swill. Coffee palaces were created as places to socialize with coffee. With the influx of Italian and Greek immigrants they learned how to create good coffee. Quist, opened in 1938, now only open during the week, is such a coffee palace. If we do order coffee, it was recommended we ask for a Magic -- coffee with milk invented about ten years ago in Melbourne. Unfortunately, we never did order one.

Six million people live in Melbourne making it the fasted growing city (in the Southern Hemisphere? In the world? In Australia?). Sam brought us to a place where the skyscrapers nearly touch each other. It was another one of those places I would not notice unless I was on a tour.

The George Parade is considered the Paris end of town. In the late 1860s it was a tree lined boulevard, the expensive side of Melbourne. Helena Rubenstein opened her first skin care business on this street in 1902.

We were encouraged to walk down Melbourne's alleys to see the street art. Our tour ended at AC/DC Lane, which used to house Cherry Bar, famous for its live music. They once turned down Lady Gaga because they already had a full line up. She stayed and bought everyone drinks. The bar received noise complaints after an apartment building went up next door, so they moved. Through crowd funding they were able to raise $50,000. The laws eventually changed so if the business was there before the building was built, they couldn't complain. Bar Bambi, an upscale restaurant, moved in after Cherry Bar relocated.

AC/DC Lane

At the end of the tour we were around the corner from where we saw the Banksy stencils so we shared them with Sam. He was non-committal.

We went to Stalactites -- a Greek restaurant for dinner. They are the type of place that always has a line. The chef, Dimitra, has been with them for decades. In addition to their regular menu, she has a daily menu to keep her interested. Don had zucchini stuffed with rice on potatoes. I went with the traditional Greek moussaka.