Have to agree about the people, fashion, places etc, it's really like another world, and disappearing fast ! 

I'm 42, and my own childhood memories of the family trips to the city/shopping/cafe's, the zoo, the royal melbourne show were always very active and colourful....lotsa people, lotsa places and things to do no matter which side alley you walked into.

Architecture was bolder, furnishings were more creative, woods, brass, steel, everything was heavy & clunky but had purpose, even shop signs were bold & stylish.
Sadly most of that is gone now, and whatever is left has been made-over with modern structure (what's the point?) and everything today seems to be plastic and disposable.

Looking at some of those pics gives me a few flashes into the past of very similar places i used to visit as a child.

Hanging onto pics like that is about all we have these days, as the old world crumbles away to make way for more granite and pre-fab....sad but true.

Where's a building with character when you want one???
MM.