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Harold Street runs between Comas Grove and High Street and is intersected by the Epping train line that runs into the city and the St Georges Road, which includes the tram tracks and cycling path that runs north-south. The Thornbury Station is right near the Hutton Street intersection, one block from Harold Street. Harold Street itself is a mix of 20th-century architecture (and many homes that were never planned by an architect), including standalone Edwardian homes, many of them being renovated, some ugly blocks of brick flats erected in the 1960s and 70s and many single-fronted homes and lots of tile-roofed Californian bungalows. The trams run down High Street, which is a real buzz. High has cafes, delis, fruit shops, bakeries, panel beaters, eclectic traders such as school uniform makers, curtain shops, coffee roasting factories and second hand furniture stores. Good strip of parkland in the Turner Reserve, at the western end of Harold street.

Gillies Street in Fairfield was named after the Victorian state premier of the 1880s, Duncan Gillies, who presided over a great boom period after the gold rush. Gillies Street intersects with Duncan Street, near the former Oddfellows Hall (now used by a Greek community group) and the St Andrews Uniting Church.
The Fairfield Bowling Club is also on the street.
Gillies Street is divided by the Eltham/Hurstbridge train line, with platforms 1 and 2 feeding passengers on and off directly onto the northern and southern ends of the street. Easy to get into the city from here.
Good bus routes run along nearby Victoria Road, Station Street and Separation Street, travelling north to the Preston shopping centres, west to the Moonee Valley racecourse or south into Port Melbourne.
The housing stock is a mix of standalone homes, semi-detached dwellings and apartments. Many of the older-style homes have been renovated.
Plane trees line the street between Separation Street to the north and Heidelberg Road to the south. The kerbs are cut-in, so cars parked off the street are well off the two lanes, allowing for good flow of traffic. Some residents don't like the amount of leaves that fall in autumn in winter.
Residents not speaking English as a first language, are more than likely to speak Greek, Italian, Cantonese and Putonghua at home.
Gillies Street is one block from the vibrant Station Street shops in Fairfield, also known as Fairfield Village. In the past 10 years, this shopping precinct has gone from a place with four butcheries, four fruit and vegie shops and three little supermarkets, to a place with four butcheries, two greengrocers, three independent supermarkets with excellent fruit and vegetables and rampant coffee shop development.
The Greek, Japanese, Thai, two Indian, three Italian-style, and one Vietnamese restaurants are all full of customers. A library, a bookshop, three discount stores, an Internet cafe, a couple of op shops, three bakeries, delicatessen help round out the mix of trading.
The FIDO dog (Fairfield Industrial Dog Object) has also attracted a dog washing outfit nearby.
The parkland, in Rubie Thomson Reserve off Separation Street, has safe play equipment for children.
The southern end of Gillies Street, which connects with Heidelberg Road, is right opposite the parkland on the Yarra River, leading down to the Fairfield Boathouse and ampitheatre, as well as the canoeing club.