Alison

My “Urban” Town, Claremont Western Australia

As the challenge from Sofia at the Lens Artists Team is urban, I thought I would take you on a tour of my home town. It’s not a large town by any means but is filled with cafes, restaurants and shops. I tend to go two or three times a week for food, a bit of retail shopping, lunch and dinner. It has a large shopping mall where two grocery stores are located but it also has small laneways off the high street filled with quirky shops.

  • Claremont Quarter
  • Looking through Maude Jackson Walk
  • A street off the main high road

I took these photos today as I was doing a shop and I was amazed to find some wonderful murals, sculptures and new coffee shops. I tend normally to drive straight to Claremont Quarter and back again. I did have to dodge a few rain showers though as we are having some storms at the moment.

On the side of the bottle shop
The above two murals are painted by Fintan Magee and titled Road to Nowhere, depicting displaced people during the Brisbane Floods of 2015

I had to take two shots of this brilliant mural above by Dipesh ‘Peche’ Prasad to capture it all. It was only after I looked at the photos I realised there was a man painted there. I could not see it from the street. It features Walt D. Drabble, the lane is named after him too. He was a painter, signwriter and ironmonger and established his business in 1865.

Highs and Lows by Kyle Hughes-Odgers
Colourful sculpture in the High Street
Metal elephant sculpture outside jewellers
Claremont Post Office, built in 1896 and is now a heritage listed building
Claremont Railway Station established in 1881. This is still a working railway station and trains go to Perth City

Bellissimo’s Restaurant has been here longer than we have and still has the same owner/manager. We visit here at least once a month. The menu doesn’t change that much but you can always be guaranteed a fantastic dinner and service. There is no booking, you just have to wait in line, but in all the times we have visited we’ve never been turned away.

Corvo is a relatively new restaurant and we have been once. Great vibe and service but the menu wasn’t to our taste. There have been many restaurants in the 18 years we have been here.

This sushi place is extremely popular and has only been open a short while, but there are always queues outside
A new coffee shop I found! Will have to try this soon.

Claremont is home to many high end boutiques, very expensive and also a bit too fancy for my taste and probably don’t do my size anyway!

This lane leads to another coffee shop and a cute little book shop. Around the corner there is a huge gardening and hardware store where we go and buy all our garden paraphernalia.

I fell in love with Claremont when we first came for a visit 20 years ago and I still enjoy going there. I hope you’ve enjoyed visiting my home town with me.

Also linked to PPAC

57 comments

  3. What a charming place, Ali. It is amazing how much we can see when we really open our eyes. At times we don’t notice the beautiful things in our own backyard because we just pass through it. Maybe we can visit it one day.

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  11. Looks really nice Alison, I wouldn’t call it small either! You have murals and shops and restaurants and statues – small enough to find comfortable but big enough to give you all the benefits of urban. Loved the murals and your adorable post office!

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  17. I think if I were younger, I’d move there in a heartbeat. Your murals are gorgeous, but I love the cleanliness and brightness of the entire town. The buildings are unique, the streets are spotless, the restaurants sound like wonderful places to eat, and the art is beautiful and abundant. I’m entranced.

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