City Hatters, which is tucked beneath street level at Flinders Street Station under the clocks, used to be the stationmaster’s office, but has been home to bowlers, Panamas and Akubras since 1910.
Most of the original interior has been preserved and it’s worth popping in just for a gander at the ornately carved, wooden shelving and the pressed metal ceiling. Allegedly, Squizzy Taylor (Melbourne’s real-deal ’20s gangster) took a pot shot at a punter who owed him scratch from across the road at Young & Jacksons. The bullet hole was preserved in City Hatter’s front window, until hooligans smashed it a few years ago.