A Brooklyn style rooftop bar with colours, cocktails, chill vibes, cool peeps and all the right flavours. Oh Satan we be naked for you anyday.
The story too, is pretty New York. Let’s see, a quick recap before we get to the fun and sizzle of the bar and nightlife of Fitzroy’s finer things.
The year is 1928. Australia is on the brink of a Great Depression, and not the kind you get after eating a big mac. Nope, this is the hanging yourself by your tie kind, jumping from a tall skyscrapper with your briefcase kind, losing your home, shirt, wife and kids kind.
Anyway, not to depress you too much. We meet a young Leon Satanovich (ahhhh get it, get it?). A fleeing Ruski from the mother land to the promised land all the way down under, to the immigrant capital of Australia, Melbourne.
The young Russian finds a job, humble and modest, cleaning and caretaking the Moran and Cato building in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Hard at work and with the enthusiasm only a Russian can muster, Satanovich makes quick friends and is soon known by another name. Have a guess!
So, here he is, Satan. The Great Depression. Caretaking a building. With Vodka running through his veins and not a drop around. So, young Satan, with help from a few other workers, uses tanks and copper boilers he finds in the warehouse to make Vodka stills.
With the Depression depressing the hell out of everyone and causing alcohol prices to skyrocket, Satan was more than happy to share his little creation with those who knew him and who he could trust.
But you couldn’t just be out in the open about it all, could you? A little secracy was needed at a time like this. A code word, if you will, to know that the person knocking was in the know. But what would that be?
Well it just so happened that making Vodka in the middle of Summer, in a warehouse with pour vintilation, firing up a bunch of stills, is hot work. Most of the time, young Satan would strip down naked to do it. It was this that gave rise to the slogan used by those looking to escape the thralls of society and drink their depression away, “Let’s get Naked for Satan”.
We’re sure that during those years Satan and his gang of friends and Melbournians spent many a day and night in that warehouse. Drinking hard Vodka and discussing the politics and wars of the day. But like the dust that formed decades later, the wood that weathers and the bricks that crack, so too did Satan’s time end and wither into history. Abandoned and forgotten.
And now this!
Gone are the days of the black and white, the depressed (well almost) and the hidden secrets. Come are the days of the rooftop heavinly, the sweet, sweet taste of smooth drink, the fulfilling, satisfying plates of damn good food, and the chill, youthful, nothing can stop us vibes of Fitzroy’s finest.
We’re not sure what Satan would make of this place, or how real his story is. But we sure as hell know what we would make of it…….
Please and thank you!
Address
285 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Website
Phone
(03) 9416 2238
Opening Hours & Specials
https://nakedforsatan.com.au/social-hours
