Camberwell: Rivoli Cinema, Sunday Market, private schools
It’s home to Australia’s first twin auditorium cinema and one of the few places McDonald’s has struggled to make a profit. If a historic booze bylaw meant you struggled to find a tipple, chances are you’re from Camberwell.
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You know you grew up in Camberwell if you could get anything you needed within a 15km radius of your home.
The suburb is known for its hefty house prices and proximity to a large chunk of Melbourne’s most exclusive schools and it boasts easy access to the freeway, getting you into the CBD or out to Monash University in about 20 minutes (traffic permitting).
It’s home to the Rivoli Cinema, the weekly Sunday market, as well as Barry Humphries, Geoffrey Rush, and Bert and Patti Newton.
It’s also one of the few suburbs where fast food joints don’t survive long.
Here’s how you know you’re from Camberwell.
YOU REMEMBER WHEN MCDONALD’S CLOSED
There aren’t many suburbs that can claim to be pretty much fast-food venue free but for some reason, they don’t survive in Camberwell for very long.
Burke Rd was once home to McDonald’s, KFC and Hungry Jacks but they’ve all shut up shop over the years and been replaced with various retail shops. The food offering along the main shopping strip is mostly boutique cafes, restaurants and Nando’s.
The McDonald’s was a popular meeting place for high school students — although it doesn’t appear they actually bought much, preferring instead to hang out on the carpark side smoking.
In a futile effort to dispel the youths, operators of the franchise even tried blasting classical music from overhead speakers.
Most schoolchildren tended to dine at the nearby Chocolate Box Cafe or Cafe Moravia — now both also gone — and eventually McDonald’s closed in 2006 due to lack of profits.
Despite a concerted effort from a group of local Maccas lovers and a Facebook page campaigning for the fast food giant to “Bring Back Camberwell McDonald’s” attracting more than 2000 likes, there have been no further sightings of the Golden Arches in the area.
YOU HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUNDAY MARKET
Every Sunday since 1976 the carpark behind the Burke Rd shopping strip is transformed into a bustling market with people spruiking their wares — everything from plants and craft to vintage fashion, second-hand books and general bric-a-brac.
People flock from all over Melbourne to attend the Camberwell Sunday Market, but it has locals divided. You either love it or hate it.
A common complaint stemming from the popular market’s presence in the usually clean and quiet suburb is the vast amount of litter and junk left behind by stallholders and marketgoers. We’re talking discarded clothes racks and unsold wares shoved in overflowing bins or scattered about the carpark.
YOU LOST YOUR MIND WHEN A COCKTAIL BAR OPENED
Camberwell was a dry area up until 2015, requiring local residents to vote to approve liquor licences. Perhaps unsurprisingly the suburb — home to young families and older residents — was starved of good bars for nearly 100 years.
Bar None became a secret refuge for cocktail lovers when it opened in 2004.
It has more than 300 spirits on offer, the bar staff can whip up just about any cocktail you desire and it’s right opposite Camberwell railway station — it was the best place to go for a bevvy with friends bar, well, bar none.
These days there are plenty more places dotted throughout Camberwell where you can enjoy a classy sipping sesh.
The historic landmark Young’s Auction House, which closed in 2015 after nearly 84 years, morphed into Young’s Wine Rooms in January last year, and also houses East End wine bar, which co-owned by Demons captain Max Gawn.
Despite technically having a Hawthorn East address, it’s a favourite Camberwell haunt just metres from ‘The Junction’.
Further afield in the Burwood-end of Camberwell, lies aptly named Prohibition where tables of gal pals sip bubbles and espresso martinis, young men catch up over a pint at the bar and older couples are often found tucking into a trendy meal that would rival most inner-city venues.
YOU’VE BOUGHT AN INSTRUMENT AT MUSIC JUNCTION
Most Camberwell children will have a memory of buying their first instrument from Music Junction.
Originally a music school, the business opened next to the Rivoli in the early 1960s and has helped countless of budding maestros find their love of the art form. It also stocks a range of specialist items and equipment and the staff can help you with just about anything you want or need to know about instruments, from recorders and ukuleles to guitars and trumpets.
YOU STILL CALL WOOLWORTHS MIDDLE CAMBERWELL TUCKERBAG
It’s been about 20 years since Woolworths bought it out, but to people from the area, the Middle Camberwell supermarket will always be called Tuckerbag. It’s not uncommon to hear people say they’ll “swing by Tuckerbag I’m on the way home” or “Tuckerbag will have it”.
It also cuts down the added effort of saying “Middle Camberwell” to distinguish between the big store in Camberwell central (still commonly referred to as Safeway) and the former Tuckerbag.
YOU LOVE A REGULAR RIVOLI SESH
The stunning heritage-listed cinema opened in 1940 and in 1968 became the first cinema in Australia to be converted into twin auditoriums, allowing moviegoers to choose between two films.
An extensive $16 million restoration and expansion started in 1999, including space for six new screens on the west side of the building.
Many staff members and patrons have spoken of run-ins with several spirits inhabiting the building, including the man in Row P of Cinema One.
And much like “under the clocks” at Flinders St Station, the Rivoli was often the arranged meeting place for Camberwell youngsters, even if they weren’t going to the movies.
YOU’VE HAD THE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD
A sign on Burke Rd points sweet tooths to the “best hot chocolate in the world” — and Choclatte certainly doesn’t disappoint. It’s basically melted Lindt balls in a cup.
The cafe is tucked away behind the main drag at the rear of Gazman. Choose between milk, 70 per cent single origin dark, white or half milk and half dark and for an added sweetness boost you can add flavours including vanilla, exotic spice, salted caramel and hazelnut.
It’s a favourite spot among many parents who take their young ones there for an after school treat.
MORE:
HOW YOU KNOW YOU’RE FROM BURWOOD