Fitzroy Street as well as St Kilda has a roller-coaster history from boom to bust and back again.
Evidence indicates that Aborigines inhabited Australia from some 40,000 years ago. Aboriginal history still remains, the most noticeable being the large ancient River Red Gum Tree, reputed to be the site of many corroborees. It is thought to be over 300 years old, the oldest remnant tree in the Port Phillip area, located next to Junction Oval on the corner of Fitzroy Street and Queens Road , St Kilda.
If St Kilda was a career woman, she would have gone from shipboard emigrant to high society dame, to tart, to muso, to a personal fitness trainer working part-time in a juice bar.
St Kilda was originally named 'Green Knoll' and 'The Village of Fareham', but Charles La Trobe, at a legendary picnic in 1841, suggested today's name after an offshore schooner called 'Lady of St Kilda'. St Kilda Road, which connected Melbourne to St Kilda and on to Brighton, was then a sandy track frequented by bushrangers.
For the next fifty years, St Kilda was the city's premier seaside resort, an escape from the unmade and un-sewered streets of 'Marvellous Smellbourne'. St Kilda Railway Station, on the first passenger line in Australia , opened in 1857, bringing thousands of visitors to promenade at open-air theatres, amusement parks and swim at the many sea baths. St Kilda Hill and Fitzroy Street became dotted with the mansions of politicians, land-boomers, doctors and squatters while their servants lived on the Balaclava flats.
The next half century saw St Kilda's fortunes plummet with two devastating depressions and two World Wars. St Kilda gained a reputation for crime, prostitution, and drugs. However, it was also an entertainment mecca, a bohemian location for artists and writers, and an accepting home for members of the Gay, Aboriginal and other communities under pressure. Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Mirka Mora all painted and lived in St Kilda. The Esplanade and other pubs turned the area into a mecca for musicians and performers.
The community campaign to build St Kilda Library in 1973 was a turning point. In the 1980's the 'Turn the Tide' alliance swept the council elections vowing to oppose over-development, promote community housing and support the disadvantaged. The renovation of the land-mark hotel, 'The George', by Donlevy Fitzpatrick was a milestone for the renaissance of St Kilda's economic fortunes.
The Prince of Wales Hotel opened as a guesthouse in 1862, but its reputation as one of Melbourne 's grandest hotels did not come about until rebuilding in 1936 by Hansen and Yuncken to the specifications of the architect RH McIntyre. (St Kilda Historiacal Society, www.skhs.org.au ).
Tolarno existed before 1964 but was bought by Georges and Mirka Mora then and became the well known local institution that is maintained today.
Leos' Spaghetti Bar is another long standing iconic venue in Fitzroy Street , having been in operation since 1956. Monroe 's Restaurant is another much loved addition to the Fitzroy Street tapestry.
Today many backpackers, visitors and Melbournians still flock to Carnival St Kilda to experience its cosmopolitan cafes, Sunday market, cake shops, beaches, pubs, historic buildings and characters.
[Information kindly supplied by Meyer Eidelson who runs historic walking tours in St Kilda. For more information please call 0408 894 724 or http://www.geocities.com/meyereidelson/walks ]
The next half century saw St Kilda's fortunes plummet with two devastating depressions and two World Wars. St Kilda gained a reputation for crime, prostitution, and drugs. However, it was also an entertainment mecca, a bohemian location for artists and writers, and an accepting home for members of the Gay, Aboriginal and other communities under pressure. Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Mirka Mora all painted and lived in St Kilda. The Esplanade and other pubs turned the area into a mecca for musicians and performers. 
The Prince of Wales Hotel opened as a guesthouse in 1862, but its reputation as one of Melbourne 's grandest hotels did not come about until rebuilding in 1936 by Hansen and Yuncken to the specifications of the architect RH McIntyre. (St Kilda Historiacal Society, 
Today many backpackers, visitors and Melbournians still flock to Carnival St Kilda to experience its cosmopolitan cafes, Sunday market, cake shops, beaches, pubs, historic buildings and characters.