St Kilda Junction was once our version of Times Square or Piccadilly Circus (albeit more spread out) dominated by big neon signs, which even covered up the dramatic 1889 Junction Hotel. The whole area was blasted apart in 1966-69 to put Queensway into an underpass. The junction hotel survived a few more years until the whole west side of what was High Street, a traditional shopping strip, and the retail heart of St Kilda, was demolished to widen the road (also good for traffic). Unfortunately it was all designed by road engineers, with no aesthetics, and with minimum demolition, so we ended up with stranded buildings, back fences, and empty lots too small to build on. I’d have preferred they went the whole hog and demolished more and allowed for a bunch of high rise, which is happening now anyway. And a better layout, I mean it’s confusing for motorists, bad for pedestrians and just scrappy trees and shrubs, though I noticed they’ve added flowers. At least they kept the trams.
Storey of Melbourne 