The Saloon Bar

Thanks to a tip-off from the delightful Julie of BVS, discovered the new Saloon Bar (59 Humffray St Nth) last Sunday arvo. Nestled between shops across the road from the Ballarat Leagues Club, this little venue has boutique beers, tapas, a touch of retro (old armchairs/couches) and live music a couple of nights a week. We took our drinks in the shady & secluded beer garden out back.


Mobile phone pics of the beer garden, wish I'd taken some shots of the inside.

Update: Feb 15, 2011. Driving past last week I noticed the Saloon Bar has closed, however a sign in the window said "Babushka, Bar Cafe Lounge Gallery" will be opening there soon (see also their Facebook page). I'll be interested to see what they do with the place.

Peter Blizzard - A Retrospective

Caught this exhibition at the Ballarat Art Gallery last weekend, prior to its close on Jan 26. Peter was my 1st year sculpture lecturer at Art School in the early 80s, and as one of our few Australian sculptors to gain international recognition I was interested to see a deeper view of the man and his work. Sadly he passed away earlier this month. The retrospective catalog is available from the gallery shop, and much of his impressive body of work can also be seen at peterblizzard.com.


"Whalesong moon halo" 2008, by Peter Blizzard (mobile pic from the retrospective)

The Safari Suit Group

Found this group from South Australia a couple of years ago when researching Safari Suits. Their about page explains ".. a group of friends have been getting together every year to celebrate the safari suit and dress up in safari suits and other 1970’s fashion including accessories. We celebrate by visiting various establishments around Adelaide. Our aim has been, and continues to be, to celebrate the safari suit in all its glory".

Their annual "Safari Night" has grown steadily since its official beginning in 1992, as shown by this recent picture from their blog:


Safari Suits (Leisure Suits in the US) are Op Shop gold these days, so if I ever find one cheap I'll be grabbing it for sure.

Mad Men Yourself!

Stumbled across this while surfing the askandyaboutclothes forums, a fun little utility from the 'Mad Men' official website where you can create a cartoon version of yourself as a 'suit' or 'skirt' from 1960. My best effort is posted below.


NB. tweaked to get both goatee & moustache in one pic.

The high life

I can't complain about my start to the year (and decade!), being sent to Melbourne for a conference at my Employer's expense, staying at the Crown Promenade Hotel. As luck would have it my room was on the 22nd floor with a wonderful view of the CBD and river, the mobile phone pics below don't do it justice.


The Casino itself didn't hold much appeal, so when Ms C62 dropped me off we took the short walk across the river to see one of my fav parts of the city, the old arcades and laneways between Flinders & Bourke Streets. On Wednesday evening we caught up again for dinner at Tutto Bene, Ms C62's fav South Bank restaurant.

The view from Tutto Bene (panorama from 2 pics spliced together)

If only every year could start so swish! But that's not all, back in Ballarat on the weekend we saw "Avatar" in 3D at the Regent Cinema (visually brilliant!) followed by pizza at the Main Bar ...all in all a very pleasant week :)

Happy New Year!

It's been a restful week-off being a tourist in my own town, doing the rounds of the local secondhand & antique shops (Salvos, Vinnies, Junkatique & Main Rd Shops, A&C Centre, Antique Effects, etc.) as well as checking out the new Mill Market. Also met Dear Prudence & sussed out her Sturt St shop for the first time.

With all of that I still only managed to come home with a few early 1960's mens "skinny" neckties, increasing my collection of these from one to four. I especially like the the olive one on the end, with it's "space age" atom symbol.

Early 1960s (late 50s?) 2 inch mens ties, $3-4 ea. from the Salvos & Junkatique