Item HT 137 Menu - Black Cat & Coloured Sections, Black Cat Cafe, Fitzroy, pre 2001

Summary

Handmade coloured menu used at the Black Cat Cafe in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, until it closed in February, 2001.

Physical Description

Food and beverage menu made from a paper sheet with a coloured collage heading and four coloured sections below in green red, pink and blue. Each section contains a handwritten list of menu items. Picture affixed to centre features a woman wearing black standing with her arms raised. A stylised black cat motif can be seen in the top right corner.

Significance

In recent years the Museum has collected, whenever possible, objects relating to the rapid development, since the 1950's, of Melbourne as a `Cafe Society'. Just as the Legend Cafe was one of the pioneer cafes of the 1950's, the Black Cat's opening in May 1982 signalled the shift towards a new type of cafe that catered for a young, arty, alternative set. From the start, it maintained an almost symbiotic relationship with the nearby Roar Studios, a group of studios and associated art gallery that has produced painters such as David Larwill. The Black Cat Cafe has been a significant contributor to the social, cultural and demographic changes that have made Brunswick Street into what it is today. This point has been made in various newspaper articles written about the Black Cat Cafe since it was announced that it was to close in 2001.