I can’t decide if this is super edgy or just another win for the nanny state.
A couple of years ago I worked on Johnston Street, but now I don’t, so it’s kind of like an old friend I haven’t caught up with in a long time and I get sort of embarrassed to hear they’ve made changes in their life that I didn’t know about. What’s even worse is now I work on Chapel Street (South Yarra!), so not only is it like I’ve stopped hanging out with my old friend, but it’s also like I’ve made this new friend who has really shiny teeth, thinks that everything is ‘weird’ and always remembers to wear deodorant. It’s fine, just different.
Even when I was there, it seemed like Johnston Street was changing a lot. Fancy restaurants with white interiors and fusion menus seemed to spring up overnight; Jim’s Greek Tavern seemed constantly and dramatically on the brink of closure (it’s still open, yeah?); and beloved bars, where I used to drink cheap whisky and where it perpetually felt like 11.30pm in both vibe and general darkness level, started to shut down.
It’s super weird when you go from working somewhere every day to only sometimes visiting on weekends to drink PBRs (and other overly large drinks that are kind of warm by the time you get to the end. Why do we drink these drinks?).
Brodie took some photos along Johnston Street and Penny asked me to write about them (Max is much better at this than me, but he’s meandering through the forest in New Zealand right now, so get over it).
I remember this shop! It’s the poster (frame?) shop on the corner of Johnston and Smith streets. I wonder whether they’re taking advantage of The Good Copy repopularising the ‘I WANT TO BELIEVE’ poster. Someone is ripping off someone, but I’m not invested enough to figure out who.
Hey, vegans have to eat too!
Like everywhere else in Melbourne, Johnston Street seems to be undergoing some significant construction. I can’t wait to tell my children that I was here when these two-bedroom apartments were built.
The majesty of construction, kids!
I think Brodie would have taken this just because she was impressed that it’s a dog made of ropes, so you’ll have to ask her. She also likes talking about puzzles. Why not make a day of it?
Who is emailing Forty Winks?
Here is some of the ‘street art’ commonly found in Melbourne’s famous laneways. It looks like this piece has gotten significantly darker since I last saw it. Maybe we all have!
The pattern the power lines make in this photo is so pretty that I almost didn’t notice that the official headquarters for Netball is on Johnston Street. Good for them.
This stretch of ground is so familiar to me and I can’t figure out why! It’s driving me crazy! Was it here that I cleaned up bottles left by rambunctious skaters? Did I used to sit here while avoiding doing further event clean-up? Did I used to hang out here while gossiping with my similarly foul-mouthed colleagues? Argh!
Good place for a QR code.
Here’s where the old Dimmeys was, a place I never went into but whose destruction allows me to say things like, ‘Wow, things are really changing around here,’ while shaking my head knowingly.
Oh yeah, this further-up bit. Once, on Johnston Street, I found a large painting of wild horses that were galloping serenely across a Lord of the Rings–esque field, and everyone helped me carry it back to The Good Copy. It’s hanging in my lounge room. I’m looking at it right now.
This old TV reminds Penny of the time that someone threw a TV through the door at our old office at 27–29 Johnston Street and the council wouldn’t come and take it away because they said it was our property, because it was on our property.
Nice to know that the local club nights that I am now too old to attend are still going strong.
Look at BL being cute in the window! Who cares what this place is.
Hey, here is where the old Good Copy office was! Even though it was freezing in the winter and intolerably hot in the summer, we sure had a lot of laughs in that office. Now it appears to be a chic boutique retailer. Wrap me in expensive linens, Melbourne cool girls!
