If this photo booth could talk, it would echo 65 years of stories.
It’s become part of the furniture in Melbourne. But what’s been keeping it alive? One man’s dedication, and a love story.
Stroll along Flinders Street next to Melbourne’s Heritage-listed train station, and you might have spotted this vintage photo booth. This photo booth is no ordinary photo booth.
It all started with Alan Adler
Back in the 1960s, Adler had a vegetable business in Hawthorn. He had spotted a job ad in the local paper, which advertised the Photo Booth Operator role on Flinders Street for $70 per week.
Adler took the role, not knowing anything about photography. He then spent a large portion of his life dedicated to the photo booth.
For 50 whole years, Adler would care for the photo booth and inevitably became the new owner.
All the way from 1972 to 2022, Adler spent his life making sure the booth was clean, stocked, and maintained.
A Melbourne icon
The popularity of this booth helped it become integral to Melbourne’s culture. A popular spot for Melburnians and tourists alike, the photo booth captures the faces of hundreds of people every day.
Friends exploring the city, families snapping their day out, couples on a date. The photographs come out in a passport size, in exchange for a few dollars. As one of the only chemical photo booths left in Australia, the photo booth was, and is, very iconic.
A Melbourne couple on their first date
One evening in 2018, Chris Sutherland and Jess Norman went on their first date. The couple went into the photo booth on Flinders Street and snapped some photos. They even shared their very first kiss in the photo booth. Little did they know, this moment was going to change their whole lives.
Before leaving the booth, the couple noticed a small handwritten note.
Alan Adler’s note informed people to enjoy the photo booth while they could, because it was closing. Due to renovations to the train station, the council planned to remove the iconic photo booth.
Next to the note was Adler’s phone number.
Saddened by the note, the couple decided to contact Adler. They campaigned to save the booth and fight for this staple that had become so tightly stitched into Melbourne’s cultural fabric.
Their campaign won, and they managed to preserve this antique. United by this fun and rewarding project, the couple formed a strong friendship and fell in love.
The new safeguards
Passing the responsibility onto the couple, Adler transferred his legacy and placed the upkeep of the photo booth in the couple’s hands. Alan passed on his intricate knowledge of the photo booth.
The couple promised Adler they’d look after this iconic machine for at least another 50 years.
Naturally, taking care of such a publicly open space in the middle of any city has its challenges. Looking after a photo booth isn’t always easy work, and it sounds easier said than done.
Constant cleaning, restoration, fixes, as well as the general maintenance and care of the photo booth. Taking care of a photo booth involves ordering rare vintage parts, importing chemicals, and making photo paper.
The Flinders Street Photo Booth remains alive and thriving, and the couple even expanded their business to open more chemical photo booths across Melbourne.
The couple opened a photo booth in the John Curtin Hotel, Carlton
In 2023, the couple opened a new photo booth. The baby sibling of the Flinders Street booth, they established a new spot in their favourite spot for a scooner: The John Curtin Hotel in Carlton.
This hip music venue and dark wood pub was the perfect home for their very own photo booth project.
Adler’s legacy continues
In January 2025, Adler passed away at 92 years old. But the Flinders Street Photo Booth is very much alive and thriving. And that’s all thanks to this inspiring Melbourne couple, and thanks to that small moment in history that would affect the future of the photo booth. And it’s all thanks to Jess and Chris that this iconic photo booth is kept alive, and Alan Adler’s legacy continues.
Part of the furniture
Now, this famous photo booth has become part of the furniture in Melbourne – it’s an iconic staple of Melbourne of the city, and it’s a major tourist attraction, and a part of Melbourne’s unique arty scene.
Its lens has captured moments for thousands of people for 65 years. Couples, friends, and families who have captured that one moment of their lives, preserved in one strip of film.
The nostalgic magic of chemical photo prints
There’s something very special about collecting a printed photo from a chemical photo booth. In this day and age, where we can take a photo on our phones in half a second, it’s become a novelty to have an authentic, vintage photo booth that prints photos that you can touch.
In this digital age, chemical photo booths are extra special because they’re a dying breed – there aren’t many left in the world! That’s why getting chemical prints makes your photos even more one-of-a-kind.
It’s a unique, sentimental souvenir that’s pasted on walls, bookmarked, stuck on fridges, tacked on mirrors, or hugged inside wallets.
See the photo booth for yourself!
Although this photo booth has been cared for, tweaked and fixed over the years, it’s been largely unchanged since the late 1960s. That means it’s an authentically vintage Melbourne relic – and you can see it for yourself if you visit Flinders Street!
Add your face to the collection of many that this famous photo booth has seen throughout the many years of its life!
Freeze frame that special moment, and keep it as a souvenir from your trip to Melbourne. So, whether you’re on your first date like Jess and Chris, hanging out with friends, taking a family photo, or exploring Melbourne with your Nan… take a snap in the Flinders Street Photo Booth. It’s the perfect personalised souvenir, and it’ll freeze your moment in Melbourne forever.
Adler’s legacy is very much alive in this photo booth, and we hope this iconic, vintage Melbourne artefact stays in the city forever!