Post to SinFongChanRE.Wixsite.com on 27/5/2018
Commenting on “St Kilda: I am embarrassed about my neighbourhood”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/st-kilda-i-am-embarrassed-about-my-neighbourhood-20180524-p4zhbe.html
I am biased. I am never keen to make St Kilda or surrounding suburb as my place of residence.
During my university first, and spent about half a year sharing a flat in Elwood with some former Malaysian friends. Some of the buildings formed "wind tunnels", and horrific to listen to the howling wind at night. When summer came, the wind blew from the sea towards the "wind tunnels" and carried that stench of rotten seaweeds.
Before I moved to Elwood, I was already working part time at a Chinese restaurant as a waiter. So my knowledge about this suburb goes back a long way, over 45 years.
Bosses at the Chinese restaurant did tell me a bit of St Kilda Junction. They started the business when the junction underwent massive reconstruction. The suburb was a working class area, and the St Kilda football club, nicknamed the Saint had its first Premiership in 1966, but then there were real success in subsequent years. During Saturday nights, the restaurant could get rather noisy with football goers came in to celebrate a win in a game. It was not a place where a waiter could get a tip.
My second full time job was with a computer company situated at St Kilda Road. I did not pay much attention to the surrounding; that's the distinct disadvantage in working in a high rise office building. One tends to meet people in the lift, normally total strangers who do not utter a word or even exchange good morning.
I can recall there were computer bureaus and computer companies just near the St Kilda Junction then.
I know Acland Street quiet well. The tram until now still terminates at the T-intersection with Barkly Street, at the end of the Acland Street. When I was in my cake decorating business, I did deliver wedding cakes and novelty cakes to a couple of cake shops / bakeries on Acland Street. I normally arrived early, and the Austrian cake shop owner would packed me a couple of piping hot almond croissants for breakfast. Takeaway coffee was non-existent then.
Acland Street was famous for the European cakes, until the retirement of those German and Austrian bakers. The standard started to decline when the horrible and sloppy cream sponge cakes and lamington started to appear made by the the Aussies. In recent years, the mainland Chinese make it worse.
Even after I sold my business, I still drove all the way to Acland Street for a piece of vanilla slice, a plain croissant, an almond croissant and a rum cake, as takeaway. I could describe these with only one word, "divine". These are very rich cake, and my wife and I just sliced them into small pieces, and enjoyed them in a couple of days over a cup of coffee.
In the early days, flats were known as flats, not apartments. Flats were built to accommodate more people per sqm of land. It was a cheaper form accommodation, or in today's words, affordable housing. What this means, they were for people who only had smaller budget. In fact, many of the flats were not owner occupied, not much different from today's trend.
Despite all these good memories, I must not forget the ugly side of St Kilda. It was well known to be a red light district. The street walking girls used to be victims of circumstance, but now drugs do not discriminate anyone who had the will power to resist.
Although I learnt about high homelessness rate in St Kilda, I have not met any homeless person, because I never walked in the suburb during night time.
Thank you for reading.
Commenting on “St Kilda: I am embarrassed about my neighbourhood”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/st-kilda-i-am-embarrassed-about-my-neighbourhood-20180524-p4zhbe.html
I am biased. I am never keen to make St Kilda or surrounding suburb as my place of residence.
During my university first, and spent about half a year sharing a flat in Elwood with some former Malaysian friends. Some of the buildings formed "wind tunnels", and horrific to listen to the howling wind at night. When summer came, the wind blew from the sea towards the "wind tunnels" and carried that stench of rotten seaweeds.
Before I moved to Elwood, I was already working part time at a Chinese restaurant as a waiter. So my knowledge about this suburb goes back a long way, over 45 years.
Bosses at the Chinese restaurant did tell me a bit of St Kilda Junction. They started the business when the junction underwent massive reconstruction. The suburb was a working class area, and the St Kilda football club, nicknamed the Saint had its first Premiership in 1966, but then there were real success in subsequent years. During Saturday nights, the restaurant could get rather noisy with football goers came in to celebrate a win in a game. It was not a place where a waiter could get a tip.
My second full time job was with a computer company situated at St Kilda Road. I did not pay much attention to the surrounding; that's the distinct disadvantage in working in a high rise office building. One tends to meet people in the lift, normally total strangers who do not utter a word or even exchange good morning.
I can recall there were computer bureaus and computer companies just near the St Kilda Junction then.
I know Acland Street quiet well. The tram until now still terminates at the T-intersection with Barkly Street, at the end of the Acland Street. When I was in my cake decorating business, I did deliver wedding cakes and novelty cakes to a couple of cake shops / bakeries on Acland Street. I normally arrived early, and the Austrian cake shop owner would packed me a couple of piping hot almond croissants for breakfast. Takeaway coffee was non-existent then.
Acland Street was famous for the European cakes, until the retirement of those German and Austrian bakers. The standard started to decline when the horrible and sloppy cream sponge cakes and lamington started to appear made by the the Aussies. In recent years, the mainland Chinese make it worse.
Even after I sold my business, I still drove all the way to Acland Street for a piece of vanilla slice, a plain croissant, an almond croissant and a rum cake, as takeaway. I could describe these with only one word, "divine". These are very rich cake, and my wife and I just sliced them into small pieces, and enjoyed them in a couple of days over a cup of coffee.
In the early days, flats were known as flats, not apartments. Flats were built to accommodate more people per sqm of land. It was a cheaper form accommodation, or in today's words, affordable housing. What this means, they were for people who only had smaller budget. In fact, many of the flats were not owner occupied, not much different from today's trend.
Despite all these good memories, I must not forget the ugly side of St Kilda. It was well known to be a red light district. The street walking girls used to be victims of circumstance, but now drugs do not discriminate anyone who had the will power to resist.
Although I learnt about high homelessness rate in St Kilda, I have not met any homeless person, because I never walked in the suburb during night time.
Thank you for reading.
