Mentone Bowling, Edgy Hotel and Southland’s golden statues: How you know you’re from Kingston
You recognise the locations in Kath and Kim, you bowled at Mentone Tenpin Bowling and had wild Wednesdays at The Edgy. You must have grown up in the Kingston City Council area. Take a trip down memory lane with these Kingston classics.
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Find yourself screaming “that’s Southland!” at the TV when Kath & Kim are going down the escalators while decked out in a St Kilda scarf and beanie?
There’s every chance you are from Kingston. Here’s a few other tell-tale signs ...
You spent your Wednesday nights at the Edgy
At its peak there was nowhere better on a Wednesday night – not in Kingston, Melbourne or Australia.
You’d be wrapped around the exterior of the Edgy in a line that would span at least 100 people, greeting mates from school as they joined the snaking queue in preparation for a night that would write your Thursday off completely.
When you were inside the sun would set over the bay and Edgy Wednesdays would be heaving by 9pm.
But summer nights were the ones you’d remember.
No airconditioning on the upstairs dancefloor meant you’d be sweating like a dog while cutting shapes to Timmy Trumpet.
After polishing off a few vodka raspberries, beers or sinking shots with famous footy players, you’d pop over to Mentone beach for a post-Edgy swim.
Sadly Mentone Hotel is no more despite a “Save the Edgy” campaign after the venue was bought from Open Door Pub Co by Momentum Developments in late 2014.
However, there are plans for a bar on the site which will become apartments.
You recognise the sets off Kath and Kim
Not many areas can claim to be the birthing place of television comedy royalty, but the City of Kingston certainly has bragging rights after hosting the crews of Kath and Kim.
The mother-daughter duo certainly did damage shopping at Southland in Cheltenham, and who could forget when Kath’s horse-led Cinderella chariot departed the Best Western Plus Buckingham International hotel in Highett.
The family’s all-too familiar Patterson ‘Fountain’ Lakes house was opened up by the owner for the public to have a look inside last year, as part of a heartwarming charity fundraiser before the house underwent renovations.
You’ve shopped at the old Mentone arcade
Remember what the Thrift Park shopping precinct on Nepean Highway looked like before the 2010 redevelopment?
Shopping at the retro strip was like stepping into a time machine, where you could drop your DVD rental into the chute at Network Video before booking a trip at Traveland.
Thrift Park Lotteries owner Colin Watson was known to sell plenty of Division 1 prizes, including one $352,000 quick pick to one lucky pensioner in 2002.
The centre served the community for more than six decades before it was demolished as part of a $35 million redevelopment in 2008, which saw the creation of the Thrift Park we know today containing 30 stores as well as Woolworths.
You bowled at Mentone Tenpin Bowl
Whether it was a birthday party, a Sunday with nothing to do or you just enjoyed going for a bowl, Mentone Tenpin Bowl catered for everyone.
It was an absolute must for birthdays though, with scores of kids sending their balls into the gutters before retreating to the dining area for a hotdog and soft drink.
Sadly the Kingston favourite announced its closure in late 2013 and locals were left with only memories of the strikes they’d bowled.
You’ve bought a goldfish at Mentone Aquarium
The eye-catching exterior of Mentone Aquarium has been turning heads on Nepean Highway for more than 35 years, with dozens of fish and reptiles mesmerising curious customers as soon as they check to see what all the fuss is about.
There’s floor to ceiling tanks brimming with vibrant, exotic fish; and snakes, turtles, lizards, insects and spiders creeping in the room next door.
If you’re game enough, the friendly staff will let you have a pat of your favourite slithery friend – but there’s no judgment if you’d rather look from afar.
You’ve watched the Saints train, or play, at Linton St
It was the local footy oval an AFL team called home, and then didn't, and now does again.
St Kilda has a rich history in Linton St Moorabbin, dating back to 1965 when it played its first game at the oval now known as RSEA Park.
The Saints played games there until 1992, but continued to use it as a training facility through their power years in the late 90s and 00s.
After the 2010 season the club moved to Seaford, but after a sparkling redevelopment of the oval they now call it home again and can be seen training there during the season.
You remember the “Southland Red Rooster”
The options for a quick bite inside Southland have always been good, but the options outside of the shopping mecca were once elite.
On one side of the Westfield complex you had the old trusty McDonalds, but if you were coming from the Balcombe Rd side and felt like chicken, the Red Rooster – which had the S removed from its sign – was a must.
You’ve eaten dinner on the tarmac at Moorabbin Airport
Moorabbin Airport’s Aero Bar took dining to new heights, with the tarmac side restaurant-bistro the serving as ultimate eatery for hungry aviation enthusiasts.
Now known as Flight Deck Bar and Grill, diners can watch hundreds of planes take off and land at the southern hemisphere’s busiest airport.
There’s wide, double glazed windows keeping the noise out — but high flying dining is available in the al fresco area for those raring to hear the propellers roar.
You’ve played in the ball pit at Ikea Moorabbin
Shopping for furniture with your parents (or kids) didn’t use to be such a struggle with Ikea Moorabbin’s ball pit.
The retail giant once had a store on the Nepean Highway and finding that perfect chair or table for a great price, or having fun in the ball pit while waiting for your parents, was a highlight of any weekend.
It was once the only Ikea location in Victoria, until the Richmond store was built and Springvale followed.
You’ve laced up your skates at Skateworld Mordialloc
Up to 350 skaters used to whiz around the rink on busy nights at Skateworld Mordialloc after it opened in 1974.
And although the queues to get in to the iconic Boundary Rd building no longer wrap around to White St, the venue still hosts roller derbies and one-of-a-kind kid’s parties.
Skater boys and girls wearing funky blades would load up on frankfurts and fairy bread before spinning to oblivion on the rink.
If your skills were up to scratch, you were allowed to keep rolling when the pace picked up and the lights went low for the roller disco.
You’d get a tap on the shoulder if you weren’t quick enough, but it wasn’t all bad.
There was still plenty of duelling to do on the arcade games and ice hockey table before the lights came back on.
You had/went to a party at Kidspace Cheltenham
If you weren’t lucky enough to score an invite to a soiree at Skateworld, it was just as cool to run amok at Kidspace Cheltenham, a double-storey play haven which used to tower over the Keys Rd industrial precinct.
The kids’ rooms were decked out head to toe in mega murals of the galaxy, and there were enough thrills on the playground to make your party food-full guts drop.
If you weren’t allowed a go on the daring drop slide, you could just wait until your parents were distracted at the cafe — but sliders were warned.
Once you held onto that bar and your legs dangled underneath, there was no going back.
The Cheltenham location is no longer, however there’s plenty of playing to do at the Hallam stomping ground on 79 Star Crescent.
You’ve licked your lips at Dairy Bell
Iconic ice cream empire Dairy Bell was the coolest place to beat the heat in the noughties, with popular shops on Charman Rd Cheltenham and Centre Dandenong Rd Dingley Village boasting lines out the door as the mercury rose to a scorcher in summer.
And Dingley Village sweet tooths are still salty about the store’s closure, with the #BringBackDairyBell hashtag a long-running joke on the suburb’s lively community Facebook page.
But Kingston’s Dairy Bell diehards can still get their fix from the brand’s last remaining store with a drive to Malvern East, where the brand was saved from extinction after the shop was bought out by gelati maker Bon Appetit Australia.
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