Coronavirus: Death of original eat street as lights go out on Melbourne’s famous Lygon Street

Melbourne’s original ‘eat street’ has fallen largely silent — another victim of the voracious appetite of coronavirus.

The Carlton Wine Room’s message to customers. Picture: Supplied

For sixty years, they’ve been teaching us how to eat, drink and be merry.

Until today.

Carlton’s original Eat Street – Lygon Street, and its surrounds — has fallen silent.

We are closed, the signs say.

Done in by coronavirus.

Some of these places have been tossing up pizzas since the war.

Jimmy Watson’s has been serving and celebrating wine (including for women) on the corner of Lygon Street since 1935.

JC Watson, who died way back in 1962, opened stubbornly. Most Australian men in those days drank beer, and women rarely drank in public, and when they did, it was sweet sherry.

Jimmy helped change all that.

But now the sign out front says: ‘For the foreseeable future, the front bar will be a takeaway bottle shop …”

Next door, it’s Cheese and Booze to Go!

Some stores struggle on with social distancing. Picture: Supplied

Spend $1000, and get a free toilet roll. Picture: Supplied

Down the road a bit, at the famed Tiamo – that’s Italian for love, including good coffee — there’s a note on the closed door:

For over 40 years, Tiamo is Lygon Street’s original cafe and restaurant.

Most people will know the black and white checkerboard floor, and the “coffee bar” — an unimaginable thing, before the war.

The note says:

“To our Loyal Customers,

Due to the restrictions the Government has imposed on restaurants we won’t be able to have patronage in the front of house until further notice.”

They are continuing to serve the menu via Uber eats. They are taking phone orders, and Facebook, and Instagram. But they warn:

“These are difficult and unprecedented times we are all going through.”

A little further alone, there’s a plea: “Landlords help Carlton traders one month’s free rent.”

Too late for the store it’s stuck on. They’re closed.

Round the corner, there’s a place called Baker d Chirico. They’re for excellence in sourdough, and they are open, serving with gloves on, and a guide to caution:

“Please pay by card. We are limiting cash transactions … if you see three customers in the store, please wait outside.”

The line is long but well-spaced.

Another cafe struggles on. Picture: Supplied

At the nearby Gelateria, the sign at first asked customers to please “wait outside if there are more than SIX guests inside.”

The SIX has been crossed out; it’s now TWO.

The stress has come to rest upon the newly-arrived, too, including places like Taquito, which is doing its absolute best to stay alive, by “slinging the freshest tacos” out the door, for takeaway customers.

At the local dressmaker, Eimai, the sign says: “Spend $1000 and we’ll give you a free toilet roll!”

Viv, as the seamstress is known, says: “I’m little and I work really hard to produce a quality product … I know it’s a really scary time but I also that I care for my clients as much as they’ve cared for me (18 years worth)

“I’m going to be here … I will have the store light turned off … I would appreciate your support at this difficult time. I promise to turn the lights on when you pop in.”

And then you’ve got the Carlton Wine Room, on the same sweet corner for more decades than anyone wants to count.

“Closed until further notice,” it says. “We look forward to seeing you all on the other side.”

There’s hope in that final sentence. We will meet again one day, to break bread and drink wine. To share pasta, and joy. Not all of us, but most of us, in clothes more tattered than those we wear today. But we will meet again.