Hotel Esplanade

Matt, Tom, Doug and Andy continue to tell the story of Sand Hill Road. In this second episode they recall the day twenty years ago they took the keys to their first pub, Fitzroy's Commercial Club Hotel. They discuss the magic and mayhem of buying, renovating, opening and living in a run-down old pub. Dreams became reality... and nightmare, all at once!

Twenty years after buying their first pub, the Sand Hill Road founders Doug, Tom, Andy and Matt go way back to the start of their journey... brought to you from the midst of the  lockdown that has closed their businesses indefinitely.

Mitch James kicked his career off by busking on the streets of London. He’d moved to the UK, but struggled to make ends meet. James spent time sleeping rough, was beaten up and robbed. But he got to perform, honing his skills in front of an audience, busking during the day while playing more than 200 shows in pubs and bars around the country at night.

Benson represents everything that your parents hate, he plays loud sub bass driven house music, drinks a dangerous amount of alcohol & stays out way past his bedtime. But what don't you know about this south-side resident? If you enjoy good music, having a laugh and high 5s then you and Benson will get along just fine. 

Matt and Andy Mullins speak to Artistic Director Janenne Willis about the recently-presented Felton Museum. The Museum popped-up every day for a week on the top floor of The Espy, appropriately within the walls of our cocktail bar The Ghost of Alfred Felton.

Our good friend Jez Carne is in The Espy Studio talking art x consciousness with his usual punk flair. This time Jez is in conversation with Melbourne musician Billy Davis, who described it as one of the best conversations he has ever had.

Matt and Andy chat to The Espy's Music Director Shaun Adams about what music means to him, how he came to be involved in the music industry, and what it means to him to book bands at this iconic live music institution.

In part 2 of this now-somewhat-loose conversation, Matt chats with Exec Chef Ash Hicks, Bar Manager Kev Peters, Sommelier Matt Skinner and CPO Adrian De Silva about opening up The Espy.

Six months after opening, the team who make The Espy taste so damn good finally step away from their kitchens and their bars to tell us how they made it all happen. 

In the late 80's Bruce Weibye and Rob Stead started working together at The Espy. Over the next ten years they rebuilt the business, turbo-charged the live music program, rediscovered the Gershwin Room (and converted it to a now world-famous band room), and built a recording studio from which they recorded broadcast-quality recordings of thousands of legendary live performances here at The Espy.

In the second part of this conversation with Architect Justin Northrop, Interior Designer Dana Hutchins and Stylist Eleisha Gray, Matt and the design team get into the details of just what it took to turn this decaying shell of a building into a fully functioning Hotel.

In this double episode Matt catches up with Architect Justin Northrop, Interior Designer Dana Hutchins from Techne Architects, and Stylist Eleisha Gray to reminisce on the many and varied challenges (and joys!) of designing and renovating The Espy.

Artistic Director Janenne Willis talks to Stefan Hunt, New-York-based Australian artist about his art festival We're All Going to Die, one day into its ground-breaking run here at the Espy.

How do you shoehorn a rambling, multi-disciplanary, multi-artist, multi-room show into a heaving pub? The Espy's Artistic Director Janenne Willis tells us how. (Hint: with great difficulty... great tenacity... and great people.) This is the story of Swell 4.0 - Music as Medicine.

In Part 2 of this Podcast, after a quick drinks break, Kyrystyna Kynst, Kate Shaw and David Brand, three of the founders and key movers in The Esplanade Alliance, finish their extraordinary story about the battle to keep the Espy alive.

We're joined by Kyrystyna Kynst, Kate Shaw and David Brand, three of the founders and key movers in The Esplanade Alliance, the community action group that fought a pitched battle to save The Espy from development and potential demolition during the 1990's.

Opening night finally arrives! With Matt and the boys somewhat preoccupied running the pub, Emma Race and friends step into the Espy's Podcast Studio and chat to a wild array of curious cats, as they wander through the Grand Old Girl.

Amongst the chaos of Opening Day, Skunkhour drop by; the builders who renovated The Espy stop for a quick chat; and Kill Dirty Youth take a break from sound-checking in the basement to talk about what The Espy means to them.

Espy Artistic Director Janenne Willis takes a quick break from creating her own ground-breaking art, and a lifetime supporting other artists' endeavours, to chat about the artistic program she's creating here at the Hotel Esplanade.

Immigrant, entrepreneur, art-lover and philanthropist Alfred Felton moved into the Hotel Esplanade in 1891. When he died at the Hotel in 1904 he left a legacy that forever changed the face of Melbourne, and sent shockwaves through the international art world.

Musician, cartoonist, artist, story-teller and unofficial Mayor of St Kilda, Fred Negro has a long and wild association with The Espy. WARNING: Fred is a punk. Expect expletives.

As a teenager Pat Hart lived at the Hotel Esplanade during the latter half of the 1940's. In 2018 she returned to the partially-renovated Espy to share stories of her life and times at this grand Hotel.

Recording from the Studio at the iconic Hotel Esplanade in St Kilda, we tell the amazing stories of its 140-year history, talk to the people who kept it alive all these years, and to those who now come here to play, to listen, to eat, drink, laugh and love.