G'day Joybell,
If I remember correctly, you had been a Northcote girl and the trams to the city would have been either down High St or down St George's Rd; both would have taken you through some Fitzroy streets that had always been a bit swanky by comparison with the ones behind them and out of view of the trams. And North Fitzroy, having developed later than the main part of the suburb was always more gentrified as I recall.

But you're right about Smith St, Gertrude St and Brunswick St; never a dull moment. Even now they're good competition for the artificial Italianness that Lygon St has succumbed to.

Cheers, Rowan