u/hrdblkman2

Hi everyone, go here to find out what is happening in St Kilda, check regularly as things are added/updated frequently.

Friday has arrived. If you're sticking around the CBD after work — or heading in over the weekend — what's everyone got planned?

There’s a fair bit happening around the city at the moment:

• 💡 Now or Never is underway across Melbourne, with installations, music and events running through the city.
• 🔦 PRESENCE at Melbourne Town Hall is a free laser and sound installation running tonight from 5pm–10pm — no booking required.
• 📚 Library Up Late takes over the State Library tonight from 7:30pm–10:30pm with live music, DJs, art and installations.
• 🖼️ NGV Friday Nights is running from 6pm–10pm tonight.
• ☁️ Weather-wise, it's a pretty standard Melbourne winter Friday — cloudy and around 16°C.

So, CBD people:

What are you doing tonight or this weekend?

Found a good new restaurant or bar? Seen something worth checking out? Any gigs, exhibitions, cheap eats, hidden gems or absolute tourist traps people should know about?

And if you're already in the city, how's it looking out there?

Drop your recommendations, warnings and weekend plans below. 👇

If you're heading into Melbourne CBD this morning, it could be a messy commute.

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of damaging winds around Melbourne today, with gusts potentially reaching around 90 km/h. There's also a 90% chance of showers, with rain likely through the morning and afternoon.

A few obvious ones:

• 🌬️ Watch for fallen branches, debris and anything being blown around on city streets.
• 🚋 Give yourself some extra time if you're coming in by train or tram and check for live disruptions before leaving.
• 🚲 Probably not the greatest morning for the bike or scooter.
• 🏢 CBD apartment dwellers: if you've got anything loose on the balcony, make sure it's secured.
• ☔ And that $8 umbrella from 7-Eleven may be about to meet its maker.

If you're already out and about, how are conditions looking where you are? Drop any delays, closures, wind damage or transport problems below so others know what they're walking into.

Good! Make this dickhead pay

Let me guess, "early morning Sunday" means partying all night Saturday with drunk players and women...sure what will go wrong?

Found this old blog post that I'd use when I used to bang about in the CBD back in the day. This was also posted in the MelbourneCBD group.

You folks remember these places?

**NOTE** These links are probably old and don't work***

***ALSO THIS IS NOT MY LIST SO IF YOU DON'T SEE YOUR FAVORITE HERE OR YOU DON'T LIKE THIS LIST, IT IS NOT MY FAULT!!!!******

Official MELBOURNE Top 10

1. The Elephant & Wheelbarrow, St Kilda (Fri/Sat nights best) Open every night to 1AM, Fri to Mon to 3AM elephantandwheelbarrow.com.au
2. The Motel, 172 York St, South Melbourne(Fri/Sat nights) Try Sunday (& Wednesday) as well? Cnr Cecil & York (members only until end of april)

*3. The Mentone, 95 Beach Rd, Mentone (various nights) Open 7 days, 12 to late http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/E/V/MELBO/0074/89/76/1.html

4. The Mercury Lounge / Club Odeon (any night) Opens 9PM. Sat, Sun free B4 10:30 Friday free B4 11, Mon, Tue, Wed free all night, Thu $14 mercurylounge.com.au

5. De Biers, 279 Flinders Lane, City (Friday night) Wed 12PM to 9PM, Thu 12PM to 12AM, Fri 12PM to 5AM, Sat 9PM to 5AM, no cover charge debiers.com.au

6. Marquee Club, 127 Dorcas St, Sth Melb (Fri/Sat night) 9PM to 7AM themarquee.com.au for members, free B4 11PM, $5 afterwards

7. Casey's, Hawthorn (Tue & Sat) caseys.com.au

8. PJ O'Briens, Southgate (Fri/Sat night) pjobriens.com.au

Equal 9th:

9. The Depot, Richmond (Thu to Sun) Thu & Sun free B4 7PM, Sat free B4 9PM. Opens Thu & Sat 6PM, Sun 4PM depothotel.com.au

10. The Geebung, 85 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn (Sunday arvo) Open all except Tuesday. Try Saturday? No cover charge. geebung.com

11. Twister, St Kilda (Saturday/Sunday night) Saturday 9PM to 7AM, price($6) B4 11PM Sunday 3PM-8PM $5 entry twister.net.au palace.com.au

12. Icon Bar, 125 Flinders Lane, City (Fri/Sat/Mon night) Friday 4PM-5AM, Sat & Mon 8PM-late, always free B4 10PM iconbar.com.au

Like we said, voting was very close. A few venues that narrowly missed a place in the Top 10 were:

Prince (upstairs), St Kilda (Saturday night) theprince.com.au

Vineyard, St Kilda (Sunday night) Thursday as well? 11:30 onwards

Golden Gate, 238 Clarendon St, Sth Melb (Fri/Sat night) no cover charge

The Red Eagle, Albert Park (Sunday night) Decent place, but closes at 11PM theredeagle.com.au

Not surprisingly there was a bit of discussion from voters about the suitability of some of the entries in the Top 10. One voter, Shane, had this to say during the voting last week:

"I think the question should be worded differently to incorporate the word 'random chick'. Motel is an easy pickup place if you are an AFL footballer or you are in a private school trendy crowd and know a lot of chicks already. Similarly, Twister is easy if you are in your high school crowd. Mentone Hotel is easy if you went to Mentone Grammar. Having Marquee at number 10 and Motel at number 2 is like saying that the number 10 is smaller than the number 2."

Fair enough, we say. And we're sure that Shano will be happy to see that his beloved Marquee climbed a few spots to claim the # 6 position. But by the same token, one could also argue that you'll only pick up at Marquee if you have a fetish for feral slappers.

Obviously the only man to settle the debate is the Pantsman himself. He's attempted to select a Top 5 based bath on player comfort and the quality of the pitch. Here's what he came up with:

Pantsman's Top 5

1. Icon Bar, City (Friday night)
2. The Red Eagle, Albert Park (Sunday night)
3. Golden Gate, South Melbourne (Fri/Sat night)
4. Seven, Albert Park (Saturday night) Thursday to Sunday-need to enquire which nights are members only

Best DF venue

There were so many nominations for a can-rooting scenario that it was difficult to come up with a clear-cut winner. It seems that if you have two (or three) willing parties, then any dunny will do the job. Here's our Top 3:

Seven (upstairs unisex toilet), Albert Park

The Saint (downstairs unisex toilet), thesainthotel.com St Kilda

Elephant & Wheelbarrow (disabled can), St Kilda

Best pick-up Suburb

The clear winner was South Melbourne. With slut-huts like Motel, Golden Gate, The Clarendon (209 Clarendon), The Railway (280 Ferrars St), Marquee, Star Bar (160 Clarendon)... who could argue?

Below from melbournepubs.com.au

CITY

DeBiers - Friday nights go off, especially early evening around happy hour when the place fills with suits and secretaries.

Club Retro (383 Lonsdale) - Friday nights downstairs is a full-on snogfest, with stacks of single people trying to pick-up. (only open fri & sat) note retro music, obviously. clubretro.com.au

*Public Bar (238 Victoria St, Nth Melb)- Monday nights for a pub full of backpackers wanting to meet some locals - and the booze is cheap, too. A gift. ($3 entry)

Willi's (296 Russell) - Small bar that for some reason always ends up with more ladies than blokes. Rare. williswinebar.com.au

WEST/NORTH WEST

*La Sangria Bar (46 Johnston St), Fitzroy - A great one for the blokes, as there'll be plenty of girls here, with not much male competition. Truly undiscovered. Spanish music. Try saturday night at 9:30-11 lasangriabar.com

EAST/SOUTH-EAST

Geebung Polo Club, Hawthorn - A Sunday sesh that is legendary, usually full house and with everyone up for a bit of pick-up action.

Depot Hotel, Richmond - Live bands and dancing with plenty of guys and girls drinking themselves silly and up for a great time.

Swan Hotel, (425 Church St) Richmond - Bands and beer. Long one of the favourites, especially if the Tigers have done well - everyone will be in a right party mood.

Marquee, South Melbourne - One of Melbourne's best-known pick-up joints, with most here for one thing only. Late opening hours ensure the party goes all night.

Motel, South Melbourne - A favourite with many, especially the younger crowd.

Star Bar, South Melbourne - A classic pick-up pub/club, with live bands and dancing, and flirting galore. (Very tough dress code. Need funky Shirt, jeans, and runners) starbarhotel.com.au

Elephant and Wheelbarrow, St Kilda - English pub style means lots of flirting in between pints. Loads of backpackers end up here looking to pick-up.

Sunset Bar, St Kilda - Great for pulling a backpacker. Especially worth going to when the karaoke's on - you've never seen as many pissed Swedes behaving so badly.

Spy Lounge, King St spylounge.com.au

Daisy s, Ringwood

Metro, City (Thursday and Saturday) metronightclub.com

Matthew Flinders, Chadstone,

Wild Bills, Southland

Racecourse Hotel, East Malvern

Club Odeon

My Notes:

City: Mercury Lounge/Club Odeon, De Biers, PJ O Brien s, Icon Bar, Club Retro, Willi s, Metro, Spy Lounge

South Melb: Motel, Marquee, Golden Gate, The Clarendon, The Railway, Star Bar, Seven, Red Eagle?

St Kilda: Vineyard, Twister, Elephant & Wheelbarrow, Prince, The Saint, Roberta, Traffik

Hawthorn: Casey s, Geebung

Richmond: Depot, Swan Hotel

Sunday nights: Geebung (afternoon) Red Eagle (evening) Star Bar (until last tram) Vineyard (until 3 am)

Monday Nights: Public Bar, nth melb. $3 entry. Icon Bar, free B4 10PM, $5 after?

Tuesday nights: Casey s

Thursday Nights: Depot (I get free entry B4 11) De Biers

Saturday Nights: Pretty much everything

All Nights-club odean/mercury lounge

***Hope this brings back some old memories!!**********

***EDIT 1***NOT MY LIST***SO YOUR FAVORITE PUB/CLUB ISN'T LISTED IS NOT MY FAULT, ADD YOURS IN THE COMMENTS SIMPLE ASF!**

For a suburb so incredibly close to the CBD, getting anywhere in Port Melbourne that isn't directly along the Route 109 light rail corridor is an absolute mission.

If you live even a few blocks away from the 109 line, your only options are waiting forever for a connecting bus, or giving up entirely and driving. It's especially frustrating when you look at the massive Fishermans Bend development right next door, where promises of new tram lines and Metro 2 tunnels have been talked about for years with very little actual tracks in the ground.

The world's largest tram network feels incredibly far away if you're stranded down near Williamstown Road.

Let’s discuss:

• If you live in Port Melbourne, how do you manage to get around without relying entirely on a car?
• Do you think the Route 86 tram extension into the area should be fast-tracked, or is a better bus network a more realistic fix?
• What is the worst "transport black hole" pocket in the area?

Side note - my fav pub there is the The Graham Hotel, but parking is shit and tram line is yonks away.

(Quick mod note: Keep the debate constructive and focused strictly on the infrastructure—and let's keep it civil under Rule 3!)

Anyone rode one yet?