Our place in the past. On this site in 1910 stood a beautiful garden, the OAKROOD Tea Gardens, this picture postcard depicts the wonderful attributes of this decadent “café”. This rare and exotic tea garden allowed patrons to enjoy “tea in the trees” and boasted positioning “next to the Elite Skating rink” The proprietress Mrs F.P.O Beyer (pictured below) catered for garden parties, fetes and weddings and as further described in the extract below, made an excellent high tea. Just at the terminus of the beach tram, within a few minutes of all these entrancing shows, is another large and beautifully appointed tea garden-the " OAKROOD." Here a band is continuously playing, and a special attraction is the novelty of many of the "nooks." In the branches of one large tree is built a platform and table and chairs for to greet the twain who wander up the narrow and picturesque stairway-" Tea in the clouds,!' by electric light or moonlight! Little summer-houses and quaint seats are everywhere, and many picnic parties, leaving, if desired, their motor cars in the garage attached, find their may to this delightful spot. In connection, too, with “OAKROOD" a large and expensively fitted skating rink is being erected by a leading architect, with granolithic floors and every modern improvement. The catering is dainty and varied, and the position has the advantage of being at the end of the tram line, where seats are most easily obtainable on the homeward journey. St Kilda by Day and Night. The building that now occupies the site was built in 1938 and was influenced by the “modern” deco style, its beautiful cornices and high ceilings indicative of the era. As a venue it has a long history of diverse and distinctive uses: a second hand furniture store, an upstairs cabaret, wax museum, band room, reception center and bar just to start. Big Mouth, however have been tenants in the building for well over 14 years and while they don’t serve “tea in the trees” you can still look out onto the promenade below, sipping tea or whatever takes your fancy, just as people have done for nearly a century. |
 
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