The Black Cat Cafe, 1988, by Michael Leunig, pen, ink and white correction fluid, State Library Victoria, copyright of Michael Leunig

The Black Cat Cafe, created by Henry Maas with Toni and Brian Edwards, opened on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in 1982. Its European-style coffee, retro furniture and bric-a-brac defined Melbourne cafe culture for decades to come and created a space for Melbourne’s poets, artists, philosophers and musicians to congregate over a short black or a Bodgies’ Blood (ice-cream spider). Michael Leunig, much-loved Melbourne cartoonist for The Age, has here captured the regular parade of bohemian types. Maas went on to open the Night Cat nightclub on Johnston Street, and the Blue Diamond cocktail and cabaret bar in Queen Street.