Kings factory, later Frank Traynor's Folk & Jazz Club (1968-1975), 100 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Kings factory, later Frank Traynor's Folk & Jazz Club (1968-1975), 100 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 106059
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Period: Inter-WarDATE: 1937;ASSOCIATIONS: Kings, William T Carson St, Kew;DESIGNER: Kings, W T ?;BUILDER: Kings, William T.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM__________________________________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSLit Lonsdale St - Queen Sthttps://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60672/images/44777_349575-000311937 March 18219 ₤700 erection of a factory…owner W T Kings, complete Aug 19371978 alts to windows, doors__________________________________________________VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-11041866 map - building on street frontage.1880 Panorama appears to show 2 storey building on site.1905 - 2 storey building with stable at rear.__________________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWcontributory to Little Lonsdale Precinct100 Little Lonsdale Street cite VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-1104__________________________________________________Australian Jazz Museum web 2016ID 30724Title T Shirt - Frank TraynorItem type EphemeraCategory PreservationBand name Frank TraynorDescription The Idea for the T Shirts came from the time when I took over the running of the kitchen at Frank Traynor's Folk Club situated at 100 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, between 1970 - 1973__________________________________________________eMelbourne 2016Folk Music…During the latter half of the 20th century, the Outpost Inn at 52 Collins Street, Frank Traynor's at 100 Little Lonsdale Street and, in Carlton, the Dan O'Connell Hotel in Canning Street, Fogarty's Union Hotel in Fenwick Street and the Tankerville Arms in Nicholson Street regularly featured performances of existing folk songs while also occasionally helping to spawn new ones, such as Eric Bogle's 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'.….(GRAHAM H. DODSWORTH)__________________________________________________WARREN FAHEY WEB SITEhttp://www.warrenfahey.com/ 2016THE EARLY YEARS OF THE FOLK REVIVAL IN MELBOURNEMalcolm J. Turnbull…`Traynors was “the daddy of them all”. While by no means the first, or even the longest-lasting, it was undoubtedly the most influential and best-loved of the dozens of folk coffee houses that proliferated throughout the country during the so-called folk boom. Invariably mention of Traynors elicits affectionate smiles or a hint of nostalgic tearfulness from old patrons and performers alike. For many a Melbourne baby-boomer, Traynors embodies the ‘60s folk scene.There has been a surprising amount of disagreement over the venue’s starting-date, ranging from late 1961 [Pattison & Mulholland, Graham Simpson] to February 1964 [Davey & Seal]. The magazine Music Maker is more precise; in his ‘Melbourne Roundup’ column for October 1963, Jack Varney noted that Frank Traynor had recently taken over premises at the corner of Exhibition and Little Lonsdale Streets with the dual object of presenting folksinging and staging jazz parties to pay the rent on the building. (Varney failed to observe that the building had recently seen service as a brothel). Veterans of the Melbourne music scene believe that the formal presentation of jazz and folk at 287 Exhibition Street grew out of the 1963 Emerald Hill concerts (See Part 1)…(287 Exhibition St main venue- demolished)`THE EARLY YEARS OF THE FOLK REVIVAL IN MELBOURNEMalcolm J. TurnbullPART 2: TRAYNORS (CONT.)Lynne St John was another teacher who welcomed the opportunity to augment her (low) workday salary with appearances at Traynors and other coffee lounges. She started singing professionally while training at Burwood Teachers’ College thanks to an admirer who passed on a tape of her singing to the manager of the Cottage in Doncaster. As a result, she appeared off-and-on at the Cottage for more than two years, as well as at the Pennville and Deep Down jazz clubs, the Campus (both upstairs with Graham Bennett’s jazz musicians and downstairs in the coffee lounge ‘folk’ area), the Jolly Roger (standing in for Brian Mooney for a couple of weeks) and other venues. She was first recruited to sing at Traynors following an appearance at a folk convention at Mt Evelyn in November 1964 and she remained a regular at the club – sometimes singing with David Lumsden, sometimes in a trio with Lumsden and Graham Squance – until 1967 when she semi-retired to devote herself to family and teaching.In general, those who were speak of Traynors very fondly, citing the almost familial closeness which developed between many of the regulars. Traynor himself, toughened by years in the jazz world, was struck by the earnestness and basic niceness of the majority of the folkies. Mary Traynor recalls the essential decency of the scene there, a scene characterised by the respect performers displayed for each others’ repertoires, particularly in the early days when recordings were relatively inaccessible and singers went to considerable trouble to build up a songbag. “Traynors was a leveller”, she notes, “ … people came to be entertained and got much more. You could just sit and listen and not speak to anyone. Alternatively, people were open. You could talk. You could talk to the artist and discuss the songs”.Patrons and performers alike saw the club as a drop-in-centre, where they were bound to run into someone they knew. Even if not scheduled to play, artists would frequently call in to mingle in the performers’ area, swap verses or “help out” with a couple of songs. The Saturday evening show would typically close with Mooney, Wyndham-Read or Spooner performing the final bracket, then inviting friends backstage or in the audience up to close with either ‘Go Lassie Go’ or ‘Singing Bird’. Newcomers were able to sing “from the floor” and (generally) encouraged to return. Margret RoadKnight was a case in point. An equally nervous Paul Wookey debuted one evening and failed dismally, singing too softly to be heard; Mary Traynor allowed him to come back and try again occasionally and, within six months, he had developed into a commanding and outstanding performer.Over time, some of the more seasoned artists developed a paternalistic attitude to youthful compatriots and patrons. A group of nurses from St Vincent’s Hospital were frequent and popular customers in the mid-60s; following the final bracket of the evening, singers with wheels would be rostered to ensure the girls got back to the hall of residence before their 12.00 curfew. A number of marriages grew out of the club. Even local policemen on their beat would be made welcome and offered coffee, although management tended to breathe a sigh of relief when they left without having reacted to the the unorthodox cigarette smell which occasionally emanated from the performers’ area. A “home base” for musicians and “a reference centre for folk and jazz”, Traynors also developed a word-of-mouth reputation internationally. Young tourists would often call in, saying they had been hitch-hiking through Norway (for example) and had been advised, if ever in Melbourne, to call in at the club. According to Danny Spooner:It was a music establishment where people went to learn, listen and get their heads together. It was a place of peace for some, and an escape from their dreadful day-to-day existences … Traynors brought together politicians like Jim Cairns, drop-outs, alternatives, actors, all mixing together. The songs were a catalyst.The club was also unusual among the Melbourne venues for its longevity: 12 years. It was forced to relocate to 100 Little Lonsdale Street when a motel opened next door to the Exhibition Street building at the end of 1968 (meaning that the jazz musicians could not ‘jam’ after midnight). Although crowds had begun to fall off by the end of the ‘60s, partly because folkmusic (and the venue) had ceased to be fashionable, and partly because the social folk scene was shifting towards pubs like Fogarty’s Union and Dan O’Connell’s, Traynors remained packed on Saturdays (until the end) and it continued to function for several more years. The end came when the building was sold and the new owner demanded vacant possession in 1975. By contrast, its forerunners, the Jolly Roger, Hernando’s, the Ad Lib and the Treble Clef, had soon been superceded. Even the Reata had gone by 1965 (although The Green Man, established on the same premises, ultimately lasted – and continued to feature acoustic music – into the 1980s)'__________________________________________________Frank Traynor's Folk and Jazz Club History Project.http://www.franktraynors.net.au/By the early 60's there was a growing folk movement in Melbourne with such groups as the Victorian Bush Music Club and The Victorian Folklore Society and there was a spattering of coffee shops which featured folk singers, most notably The Little Realta in Melbourne and more importantly to the establishment of Traynor's, The Arab in Lorne.For a number of years, during the summer season, Frank Traynor's Jazz Preachers was the resident band at the Lorne Life Saving Club. During that time Frank met and became friends with singers from The Arab such as Brian Mooney, Martyn Wyndham Read and Glen Tomasetti.Frank had felt for some time that there was a need for a place where jazz musicians could play the music they wanted to play, without the restrictions of "crowd favourites" and dance tunes. In talking to his new "folk" friends, they also expressed a need for a different style venue for their music, one without the noise of chatter and coffee cups. He discovered, to quote him, that "There was a natural affinity between folk and traditional jazz musicians at the time. They had mutual respect for one another, particularly because they were both taking their music from folk roots, they were both a bit underground, they were both totally sincere in what they were trying to do with their music and had a great personal belief in it: there being a message of truth in the music"Shortly after this time, Glen Tomasetti started the series of Sunday afternoon folk concerts at the Emerald Hill Theatre in South Melbourne and Frank helped out.In late 1963 Frank started the Frank Traynor's Folk & Jazz Club. Commonly referred to as Traynor's, it became a Melbourne icon. Like the Melbourne Jazz Club, which he had established in 1958, it was revolutionary and played a key role in the folk revival in Australia, while at the same time keeping jazz music alive after the boom had collapsed…The setting.A dimly candle-lit coffee lounge with barrels for tables and canvas fold-up stools for seating with almost no choice in beverages and food. There was one spotlight over a small raised platform where folk singers performed sitting on a barrel. The coffee was brewed in a large stock-pot and the only choice was black or white. The only alternative to coffee was Coca Cola and the food choice was between a packet of cheese and biscuits and a pastry. These could only be obtained from a kitchen removed from the performance space during the breaks in the performances. (There was another drink which was provided only to performers. It was a concoction of claret and coke, served in a mug to look like coffee and was aptly named Black Death).'__________________________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1931https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2169966Illustrated - The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933)Thursday 25 June 1931 - Page 14OPENING OF MARGARINE FACTORY. .Butter and cheese factory managers from all districts of Queensland, who are attending the conference at Brisbane. At the opening of the Provincial Traders' new margarine factory at Murarrie yesterday. Left to right:-Messrs. W. T. King (president, Chamber of Manufactures), the Lord Mayor (Aid. J. W. Greene),Messrs. G. L. Lonsdale (Managing Director, Provincial Traders, Ltd.),F. T. Grove, and J. S. R. Wylie.DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1942Evans la100 Code, F. W.. Repetition engnr
Related material link:
Names:
Places:
Form/Genre:
Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1258608
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 106059 | 1 JPEG : 371 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |