High Street Memories: John Safran on Carlisle Street, Balaclava

Melbourne filmmaker and author John Safran first visited Carlisle Street, Balaclava as a primary aged-student, and would occasionally sit behind the work counter of his grandparent’s shoe repair store which they ran on the street until the early ’80s.  

As a high school student, he’d always stop into the 7/11 for a kosher Slurpee with his friends.  

“The Balaclava end of Carlisle Street attracts a mixture of people, mostly known as a place where Melbourne bohemians tend to hang out,”  Safran says.  

“It’s also where a large number of Orthodox Jewish people live and you won’t see them in great numbers like this anywhere else.  I still live around here and while the strip is slowly changing, I don’t notice the incremental changes because I am here every day.”  

Safran still frequents Carlise Street, Balaclava. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

In his latest book Squat, Safran went to NYC and LA to interview Americans about Kanye West’s antisemitic outbursts of 2023. It was during this stint Safran decided to squat inside the singer’s mansion without him knowing … until now. The experiment lasted a week and while no arrests were made, it led to his latest published work. 

“It was a scary thing to do,” admits Safran who will be in conversation with Four Corners journalist Mamood Fazal at The Wheeler Centre this Thursday evening. 

“After some investigating, I found out Kanye hadn’t been seen at his mansion for months, and the neighbours said they hadn’t seen security around, so I thought this would make a perfect writer’s retreat,” says Safran.   

When he’s not squatting in LA mansions, Safran likes to pass his time chatting to strangers while at the barber shop. Here he reminisces about his earliest memories, shops that are no longer and what still hits the spot. 

Earliest memories

My grandparents [Jankiel and Masha Obronczka] had a shoe repair shop under the bridge on Carlisle Street, Balaclava. The shop displayed two names: on the awning it said American Shoe Repairs and on the storefront it said Continental Shoe Repairs. It was owned by Victorian Railways and my grandparents rented it. It sat directly under the Balaclava train station bridge, so I suppose that explains why the Victorian Railways owned it. By my father’s recollection is that the rent on the shop was significantly cheaper than other shops, presumably because of its ‘bad’ location under the bridge. 

The show shop Safran’s grandparents ran is now a barber. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

It’s now become a barber shop and where I get my hair cut. I actually still have the cash register that belonged in my grandparent’s shop at my house as a memory. On occasion I would spend time with them at their work. I vividly remember the smell of cut shoes and the oils they’d use to polish all the shoes. They moved from Carlton to Balaclava and lived on the street and worked here – I still have people come up to me today – some are strangers – to say they’d get their shoes repaired at their shop. They ran it for many years. 

Favourite haunts

The Wall Café used to be a kosher butcher shop; it’s a striking brick walled café that is very popular among locals. Back when it was a butcher, my friend’s mother worked there. You can still see the scales where they’d weigh the meats, probably goat, sitting in the café as a nod to its past. You can also see some of the ghost sign on the exterior of the building too. The Wall continues to feel like a second home for me – it’s very wooden inside and there’s permanence to it – it’s the sort of place you can hide but not entirely, if you have some real top-secret topics to talk about, I wouldn’t go here! I’d likely get a booth from Glass Merchants Cafe to have a private discussion with someone.  

One of Safran’s favourite cafes is The Wall. Picture: Instagram

A local staple

Flowers from Gan Eden is where I get last minute flowers for gifts. I am quite disorganised so I love that there’s shops like this you can walk into and get looked after. It translates to Garden of Eden in Hebrew.  

A favourite that’s no-longer

There was a record shop I remember on the street. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of it. It was there before the vinyl revival happened and it wasn’t expensive to buy a record. I feel a bit melancholy when shops like this close. 

The metal sculpture on the train bridge is a local landmark. Picture: realcommercial.com.au

A local landmark

It would have to be the metal artwork on the Balaclava train station bridge. It’s still there and will definitely outlive me! It was quite grotty and vandalised at a certain point. As a result, it got taken down some time ago, but they cleaned it up and put it back up again.

Another fun fact around this part of Melbourne is that a lot of the streets around Balaclava and Carlisle Street get their name from the Crimean War time period. At the time, locals heard and got overexcited that the Russians were coming to invade St Kilda Beach. It didn’t happen, but because everyone was so invested in it, when it came time to name some of the places around this strip, they chose to name it after Army Generals and other Crimean War battles of the 1854 period.  

A go-to that stands the test of time

Mr Carlisle Barber’s Balaclava is where I go for a stress-free haircut on a whim.  I also get ideas for my next projects when I walk down this street, and it’s not uncommon I chat with strangers at the barber who also help me with my creative blocks. Random chats whilst waiting to get my hair cut can lead to some interesting things for me.