Changing a beloved institution is always a challenge but this hotel, previously known as the Prince of Wales, is particularly hallowed ground. Constructed over the remains of an earlier pub, the grand ocean liner of a building was completed in 1937. With fashionable Streamline Moderne lines and a glamorous clientele, the hotel was occupied during WWII by US troops, which only added to its appeal. Eighties punk in the bandroom upstairs added serious music cred, while the ground-floor public bar has long held legendary status: the St Kilda Historical Society claims the east section as the oldest surviving gay bar in Victoria, peacefully coexisting with the rest of a venue acknowledged as
