I used to go to Kill City, the crime bookshop, and then have a penne matriciana at Continental Cafe, sitting by the window and watch all the Qantas air stewards wander past with their Asian boyfriends in tow.
So many places of this ilk have sadly fallen by the wayside, and yet somehow Greville Records is still alive and kicking. I’ve not been there for years (getting to Prahran and parking there is a pain-in-the-ar se these days, and the internet has reduced the need to traipse all over town looking for that elusive record), but more power to them I say!..
The guy who bought the shop moved it to Chapel St, even buying the freehold. Unfortunately he was indiscriminate in buying secondhand stock, and ran it to the wall.
He asked me if I wanted to take over the stock, seeing I was always there, but it was the start of the internet and Amazon era, so I declined. Way out of my comfort zone. He sold it all to a shop in Swanston St, but even that closed up six or seven years back.
Back in the Greville St days, the then-owner decided that crime book readers also liked hot sauces and ran a range upstairs.