Gina, social history and Elsternwick

Yesterday, blogging went one step further for Miss Eagle. Miss Eagle, dear Reader, had the great pleasure of meeting one of her blogging friends face to face. Not only did we meet but we spent a whole morning together. The friend, dear Reader, is Gina: she of Patra's Place, Patra's Other Place, and Patracat's Memories.

The meeting came about because of some posts Miss Eagle did about The Collecting Chemist of Elsternwick which can be found here, here and here. Well, what a morning! Walking around Elsternwick was a social history done with Gina. She provided a fount of information.

Miss Eagle thought it was strange when she first noticed the apartment block, The Renown, in Glenhuntly Road. She thought it passing strange to see an apartment building with such a name. More like a theatre she thought - especially when the name is also displayed in an art deco font. Guess what? Thanks to Gina, I now know that The Renown was one of Elsternwick's two picture shows. Gina, here - if you scroll down this page - you will find someone else with memories of The Renown. We also had to pay homage to The Esquire - the other picture show - which has been renamed The Classic.

Then we hit the Opp Shops. Miss Eagle thinks that Gina takes the crown as Queen of the Opp Shops. Now if you are someone or you know someone who could challlenge for this title, please email Miss Eagle off the sidebar and we will have to see how the contest can be staged. Gina knows where the Opp Shops are and is determined to get there. Perambulations down Glen Huntly Road brought more social history. "Now when I walked home from school I used to go down this street because my girlfriend lived there." " This is the shop where all my brother's clothes came from." In the door, and her bee-line is for the linen. You should understand, dear Reader, that Gina is a collector - a collector of linen as you will note when you visit her sites. As well, she is a needleworker. So her first port of call will be the linen. No linen? Little interest. And we did find one Opp Shop - no names, no pack drill - who had no linen. Predominantly clothes, so Miss Eagle was not much interested either.

A bonus to the expedition was Miss Eagle's discovery of a garage sale of no mean proportions right on Glenhuntly Road. Gina might be Queen of the Opp Shops but Miss Eagle can sniff the wind for a garage sale. This was a good one. Miss Eagle was busy buying a sewing table, decorative tins, and jewellery while Gina was head down in amongst the linen. Miss Eagle wandered over and found a beautiful piece in her hand - a doily displaying a map of Australia with each state carrying its floral emblem. Beautiful! Gina let your correspondent have it, dear Reader, since she already had a similar one in her collection. Your correspondent, of course, was thrilled. Even Herself, no great lover of linen, admired it. To be continued....

Footnote: Sharon, Gina said your were working. We missed you. We think it would have been a riot had you come too.