Thursday, May 28, 2015

A peek under the floorboards at the everyday life of a 1960s student at a Wellington school

What a fabulous bit of ephemera, discovered by vandals uncovering floorboards in an Addams Family-looking Victorian school in Wellington, New Zealand (apparently where Peter Jackson filmed part of The Frighteners). Uncovered was the everyday remains of a 1960s student's eating, living and studying habits.

Thank you DARIAN ZAM for posting it to this blog last year - have only just noticed it.

https://longwhitekid.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/the-shelf-life-of-reilly/


Brunswick - a great old milk bar, plus some other locals

I've been traipsing in and around Brunswick a bit of late, and in doing so have stumbled on a few ghost sign finds along the way.

Firstly, a former milk bar in the back streets of Brunswick East:




You can just make out some signs at the top....


What's hiding under there?

Robur Tea!


 

And speaking of Robur Tea, last week I revisited the Robur roof near Melville Road, West Brunswick for some more shots. Up close it looks like this:


Notice the other faint ghost signs up the top too:


But when you walk further down the street, the message becomes clearer:





Here's a view from the back, showing another Robur sign:


Around the corner, a few other motley signs:

Bad time of day to take a pic, sorry




Further down Melville Road, there's this:



And in the back streets nearby:






Lastly, a hint of something elaborate on a wall in upper Lygon Street:





Wednesday, May 27, 2015

RIP to the old Majorca general store in regional Victoria, with its ghost sign

This week the old general store in the former Victorian gold mining town of Majorca (now a ghost town) burnt down. What a shame. One of the few reminders of a past boom time that used to include 250 shops. Here's a pic from the Lost Maryborough Facebook page:



And here's some video of the fire on Facebook, courtesy of local journalist Caleb Cluff:


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153364720301913

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Superb old shops in East Malvern

Earlier this week I had an appointment at the Monash University campus in Caulfield. I was early, so parked across the road and went for a walk down and around Waverley Road. The walk started promisingly....


....and then got really good. As in this great old deli/butcher's shop, preserved by the current occupants. They've taken the trouble to build in the old windows (one of which looked like it was hit by a bullet):









And down the road, a brilliant old grocery (was taking the pics into the light, so excuse the poor quality pics):





And as a coda, here's another one across the road:






Wednesday, May 13, 2015

A few signs from Middle Park and Albert Park

This week I managed to get a few minutes en route from Caulfield back to Footscray...here are a few signs I encountered in Middle Park and Albert Park.

From the Middle Park shops:

Is that a Robur Tea sign?...





Albert Park shops:


 

And up the road:





Carlton beer and Velvet soap...different times, differing priorities...
...and still visible from a way away.