I grew up in a suburb not far from Fitzroy. Our tram passed through there on the way to the city. In 1950 Fitzroy was far from dismal. It was fast though. A red-light suburb of Melbourne where you saw girls leaning on lamp-posts in the middle of the day -- dressed for parties -- as my five-year-old eyes saw them. And there were Chinese medicine sellers with strange signs in their windows. There was always something going on. People dancing in the street -- or fighting. All the shops had gargoyles on their rain-spouts -- fine old stone buildings.
I loved passing through Fitzroy.
Cheers, Joy