Lamborghinis next to old Commodores is the norm in our beachside suburb

“Port Melbourne!?” This was the reaction when we announced our intention to move there from one of Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs.

While other empty nesters were selling their family homes and escaping the city for sea and tree changes, we were moving closer to the CBD and into the seemingly dubious suburb of Port Melbourne. Yes, it had a reputation for being one of the city’s poorer and seedier suburbs, but that was then and this is now.

Indeed, has any suburb in Melbourne seen more urban renewal than Port Melbourne? It has transformed from its industrial past into a bustling residential suburb in just a few short decades. It isn’t as affluent as Albert Park or as hip as St Kilda, but it has an honesty that embraces public housing, multimillion-dollar apartments and everything in between. Here, it’s not unusual to see a Lamborghini parked beside an old Commodore.

The seemingly ad hoc way it developed has resulted in a suburb with examples of buildings from most decades over the last 150 years all sitting side by side and creating an architectural mishmash that can be jarring but never boring.

Port Melbourne is where postwar migrants, young families, backpackers and empty nesters like me all live together united by a love of dogs. You can be strolling down a street with an angelic grandchild in hand and hear the greeting “Hello beautiful!” only to realise they’re talking to the feisty but lovable 15-year-old Jack Russell.

In Port Melbourne, forget the pub test – dog parks are the village square. We embrace this love with numerous dog-friendly cafes and bars, puppy pub crawls and Howl-O-Ween. This huge annual community event involves dozens of dogs dressed up in Halloween costumes parading up and down Bay Street, leaving smiling faces and the occasional accident behind.

Bay Street is the suburb’s heart and, like many Melbourne shopping centres, it has its share of “for lease” signs. Cafes and restaurants come and go but those that endure look out for each other and often those less fortunate. A hairdresser offers free haircuts on Sundays for those who can’t afford one and a coffee shop doesn’t charge those who are struggling.

A morning walk can lead to a chat with a resident living in the house they were born in and whose life milestones all happened at the intersection of Bay and Graham Streets. They enjoyed many a drink at the pub on one corner, married in the church on the opposite corner and spent a night or two in the cells behind the police station on the other corner.

Port Melbourne has always embraced diversity and is still home to many postwar migrants who live in their original houses after disembarking at Station Pier and not travelling far to settle. Today their cottages are humbled by the recent additions of multi-storey apartments.

The cruise ships provide an ever-changing panorama. You can spot the passengers wandering around looking slightly lost in their best holiday clothes, carrying a backpack filled with cheap supermarket snacks to smuggle back to their cabins. Further along, Princes Pier stands silently with its ghostly pylons reaching out into the bay, a peaceful place to reflect on all the soldiers that departed from there, never to return.

Traces of the lagoon, which was home to a fishing fleet up to 1929 are found with streets named Esplanade East, Esplanade West, Lagoon Park and Lagoon Pier. The lagoon is also responsible for the occasional sinkhole and ruptured utility mains. Soon after moving in, we were evacuated due to a gas leak, which made us question our move. But luckily, we avoided a repeat of the great gasometer explosion of 1920 when flames shot 100 metres into the air with the heat felt a kilometre away.

It only takes minutes to reach the CBD on the 109 “rocket” tram, but despite its proximity to the city, it can still be surprisingly quiet. In summer, it can hop and rev-heads love to cruise Beach Road, but when the day visitors leave, locals enjoy a very relaxed suburb. Evening walks are serene, just me and the parade of other dog walkers.

Port Melbourne’s dark side hasn’t completely disappeared yet, but in the 10 years since we left the leafy east, we haven’t been mugged, become drug addicts or been coerced into an underworld gang. We are happily enjoying life in our special pocket. We are living a sea change without leaving the city.

The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.