The Lost World of Melbourne Bohemia

Each night the fashionably dressed gather in Melbourne CBD cafes and bars, while other groups saunter home to apartments and converted warehouses. But this boom in city living and eateries and isn’t new. From the 1870s to 1940s, city clubs, cafes and book shops created a “salon of sorts”, while the lanes housed an eclectic mix of people. As early as the 1890s, flamboyantly dressed actors, artists and musicians could be seen doing “The Block” near The Block Arcade, which runs off Collins Street. The now defunct Bulletin magazine ran cartoons by Phil May, who enjoyed poking fun at the glitterati, who could would later eat at the fashionable Gunsler’s Vienna café precursor to the Australia Hotel, now the Australia on Collins, a shopping arcade. <a href="https://medium.com/@ecervini/the-lost-world-of-melbourne-bohemia-5f3869cd865b">Learn More</a>