St Kilda, Elwood & Elsternwick

St Kilda is Melbourne's tattered bohemian heart, a place where a young Nick Cave played gloriously chaotic gigs at the George Hotel (formerly the Crystal Ballroom) and one that's featured in songs, plays, novels, TV series and films. Originally a 19th-century seaside resort, the neighbourhood has played many roles: post-war Jewish enclave, red-light district and punk-rocker hub. It's a complex jumble of boom-style Victorian mansions, raffish Spanish Moorish apartments, seedy streets, a rickety roller coaster and nostalgia-inducing theatres, flanked by wonderful dining options in the friendly neighbouring suburbs of Elwood and Elsternwick