Posted by: limey | http://asseptic.org/433 | Tue Oct 7 00:56:34 2003

Glad to have you back.

Nice pics, but forgive my ignorance, where's Carlton?

Posted by: dj | http://deejbah.livejournal.com | Tue Oct 7 03:38:12 2003

It's an inner suburb of Melbourne.

Posted by: Ben | http://leviathan.weblogs.com | Tue Oct 7 04:02:36 2003

Nope, I still can't get through. Dammit.

Posted by: jb | | Tue Oct 7 07:43:15 2003

you might like to photograph (what used to be) the Rathdowne Tavern -- it's had some veneer/facade removed, and now you can see the fantastic pop-art-looking mottled paintwork, with parts of different beer logos superimposed on each other.

hurry and get it before the developers or graffitists do!

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Tue Oct 7 08:10:59 2003

I know the place; I often pass it on the bus.

Though distressed layers of logos are a bit of a cliche these days; that place that took over the Punters Club did exactly the same thing, as it's "funky" and "fashionable", and ironic-without-being-conscious.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Tue Oct 7 09:53:08 2003

Well, yeah, but I'm guessing the ones on the Rathdowne weren't put there to be unfunkily funky.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Tue Oct 7 10:14:03 2003

Who knows; they've redone the signage on the tavern, so they may not be turning it into just yuppie apartments but yuppie apartments and a chic, trendy wine bar or something.

Posted by: sam | http://www.humbug.net | Wed Oct 8 14:32:07 2003

I thought they were getting rid of all the really old trams (bear in mind I haven't been in Melbourne since April). Are there a few still around?

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Wed Oct 8 15:08:52 2003

They've brought a few back, with expensive brake refits, though only a few.

I haven't seen them outside of the City Circle line. And I heard that the new, rebuilt Brunswick St. junction can't accommodate the old trams, cutting them off from the Box Hill and Preston lines.

Posted by: jb | | Thu Oct 9 13:52:29 2003

hmm, after posting the original comment I did wonder if the patterns on the Tavern are really all fake. All I can say is that it sprang up virtually instantly one afternoon when they removed the veneer, that it looks "real" enough to me, and that they put up all the signage a few weeks later.

It does look like it's here to stay. And what is "real" and "authentic" in our postcolonial world, anyway?