Tense knee caps, fungus, Fitzroy wanderings

Awesome Collingwood ghostsign (or is it Fitzroy?)

At pilates today, while I was executing a bend over hamstring stretch thingo, the instructor told me to "relax my knee caps". I laughed instead. 

There's a crop of little mushrooms in the garden out the front of my flat. There's more of them today than there were yesterday. I'll check again in the morning. (I tried taking photos but they're too small and too far from my reach to get a decent one.) 

Luke and I had lunch over in Fitzroy today then wandered the streets and alleyways, looking at street art and ghostsigns. 

 Inward goods

 Manufacturing chemist

Mesmerising eyes

George Costanza

Then we went home and I napped for hours.  

Sunday ghost signs and other stuff

This little car - a Messerschmidt KR200 - was quite

 an attention grabber on Brunswick Street on Sunday

Catching some late afternoon sun 
(Collingwood)

Jointy yellow door 
(Abbotsford)

Off Smith Street, Collingwood
(think I've blogged this before...)

Tre-sur Knitting Mills, across the road from the sign above
  

Manufacturers of LADIES...

...teenage and CHILDRENS

 KNITWEAR

And a bonus old OFFICE sign, with just-visible
  old phone number

Not a painted sign and I have definitely blogged this before

It's the sign of the former MacRobertson's confectionery company in Fitzroy - officially MacRobertson's Steam Confectionery Works.  I've written about its founder, Macpherson Robertson before too.  His factory - which expanded to fill a whole block in Fitzroy - was painted all white inside and his employees wore white uniforms. It was nicknamed the Great White City. Mac himself was known to sport a white suit and hat, often a Stetson. 

He was a remarkable Melburnian - a self-made man, eccentric and philanthropist. He died in 1945, but he left his mark on Melbourne with a bridge and a girl's school named after him (which he funded).  There's also part of Antarctica  - Mac.Robertson Land - named in his honour after he funded a joint British, Australian and New Zealand expedition there in 1928. 

He introduced chewing gum and fairy floss to Australia and created the Freddo frog and Cherry Ripe chocolate treats. Less happily, he was also the driver of the car which caused Melbourne's first road death in 1905, although he was cleared of culpability. 

Anyway, onto more signs: 

Also Smith Street

Not sure what sort of shop it was, but it seems they

 didn't want riff-raff streaming through the doors...

   

 Just off Victoria Street, Abbotsford

 Ideal Box factory, Rokeby Street, Abbotsford

Truck body builders, and very old phone number. 

Also Rokeby Street  

Just off Hoddle Street, Abbotsford

It's a gang, street art, random oddities

It seems I'm slowly building a ghost hunting gang. As well as Jess, the friend who told me about the Robur sign in Fitzroy North, another Twitter pal told me about one in the city which has been revealed by the demolition of the adjoining building. 

Corner of Lonsdale and Russell Streets

Celebrated specialist!

I had seen a photo of this sign (I think on Finding the Radio Book), but I didn't take note of where it was, and I like to see and photograph a sign myself. So thank you, Cherie! 

I think Jess has caught the ghost sign bug. She tweeted me photos of two other signs today, one of which she jumped out of her car in traffic to photograph! She tweeted:

Becoming slightly obsessed with spotting #ghostsigns in Melbourne for @FriskyLibrarian. It's kinda fun.

Heehee.

As well as the ghost sign photos from Anzac Day, I took photos of some other amusing, strange, quirky and cool things I encountered on my expedition. 

 Teeny weeny house!  It's near where Cromwell Street

 turns into McCutcheon Way in Collingwood  

As you can see from the plaque above, it's old and heritage-listed. I can't get over the fact such a small house was designed to house workers and their families - it's smaller than my bedroom! - and that people lived in until 1977. Wow. 

 Oh-kay 

  

This place  - the People's Market on Stanley Street in Collingwood - looked cool. Music, food, art and markets stalls...but unfortunately I came upon it the day before it closed down. Maybe it will pop up again somewhere else.

   Homage to the Beastie Boys

Rarrr!

Giant concrete spray can

Collingwood...Wellington Street, I think 

Same artist. Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Street

The bell at the front gate of a house on Queen's Parade, Clifton Hill

A dude in North Fitzroy 

Pointy building on Brunswick Street, 

completely covered in street art 

This was one of my favourite non-sign discoveries of the day. It was in the window of an old shop - possibly now a residence - on Brunswick Street, just over Alexandra Parade. (Apologies for poor photo quality.)

I had to stretch up to take this shot (yes, that's my forehead) and the last bit is hard to read. It says: The octopus has 3 hearts, yet no skeletal system. They can fit into tiny spaces + love a lot.   Of course I greatly approve of sharing octopus facts, though I'm not sure what they're getting at with the "love a lot" bit.  

The best part of this is that several people have taken up the offer to educate the occupiers. Apart from the octopus facts, there was one about beer and a list of which countries have nuclear weapons.  

Just off Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy

I ended up walking all the way back into the city. I spied a group of workers taking a break in an alley behind a Gertrude Street restaurant, with the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building in the background. 

I arrived at the Carlton Gardens at the perfect time. The Hotchgurtel Fountain and the Exhibition Building were aglow in the late afternoon sun. 

My Anzac Day sign hunt

Finally, here is my haul of ghost sign finds from last Thursday. I originally planned to use the public holiday for a gym session, but a Twitter friend had told me about a sign she passes on her way to work, so I decided to go and have a look at that instead. I travelled on foot to capture other signs on the way. I ended up walking for about 5 hours almost non-stop. It was an expedition. 

Unfortunately, my supposedly fully charged camera battery expired very early on in the piece and I'd left my spare at home on the charger, so I had to rely on my phone camera. Better than nothing, I suppose. Anyway, here they are:

Bridge Road, Richmond, near Hoddle Street intersection

Stark's Manufacturers. Spotted from Hoddle Street, 

Richmond, behind Hungry Jack's carpark

Islington Street, Collingwood. Not a painted sign, but it's old

At first glance I thought James was a Malteser. 

Maltster is still amusing. You don't meet maltsters

 at parties these days

Further along Islington Street

A closer look at the right end of the above sign reveals 

another old sign* - SHOE

And again...'manufacturer' or an abbreviation thereof

Islington again, but only a fraction

This is the Robur Tea sign that started it all, on the corner

 of Michael Street and Park Parade, North Fitzroy

Close up. Dairy Produce on the top left

The Robur Tea sign was a great find (not that I actually found it), and a little further along I came upon this gem on the corner of Albert Crescent and Grant Street. How easily I could have gone down a different street!

TOE & BALLET SHOE MANUFACTURERS!  J. Imbesi & Sons  

Also a two-in-one - T Peters made some other kind of shoes. 

Were basket shoes a thing? 

This one is the side of a building on Queens Parade, which I saw from (I think) Grant Street. There was a high degree of difficult in spotting it - it was a 'blink and you'll miss it' thing. It looks like it says BLAND. 

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North (the bit north of Alexandra

 Parade). Not sure what it says

A closer view...Looks like 'Chek....y'  and second word

 ends in S. Any ideas? 

This is in Fitzroy...I forget which street

Collingwood (forget where...I did take note of street names, 

but not which sign was where. Der) 

Collingwood

Collingwood again

Also Collingwood (Vere Street, maybe?)

Collingwood yet again

Wattle Poultry, I reckon.  Alexandra Parade,

 I think near the corner of Wellington Street

This was Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North again

 (Yes, my photos are out of order and I'm too lazy to re-order them)

Corner of York Street (obviously) and Brunswick Street -

the same building as the one above 

W Parkin & Co Engineers, Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy 

Independent Hall, also Fitzroy Street

Strath Knits, Manufacturers of Fashion Knitwear. 

I think this was Collingwood too

* What I've been calling a two-in-one sign, other ghost sign hunters call a 'palimpsest', but I'm not sure I want to go there...