Smith Street is the spine of Collingwood and the dividing line between it and Fitzroy to the west. For decades it had a hard reputation — it was Melbourne's most notorious street for street drugs and sex work — and it has gentrified without entirely losing its edge. The result is one of the city's most rewarding strips to eat and drink along: a dense run of small bars, independent restaurants, roasters, breweries, and the occasional surviving discount store and old pub from the previous era.
It was named Melbourne's "coolest street" in international press a few years back, which locals found both gratifying and slightly embarrassing. Ignore the hype and just walk it from end to end in the evening — the concentration and variety of good places along a single street is hard to match anywhere else in the city.