While today's Lonsdale Street traders admit the gentrified restaurant strip is cementing its place as Canberra's yuppie capital, for four days of the year, the old, mechanics-heavy Braddon returns.
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Civic Pub owner Peter Dawn is gearing up for a big trade during Summernats this weekend as the government waters down its lockdown of Lonsdale Street.
"We also watch Summernats out the front of the pub and we enjoy the atmosphere," Mr Dawn said.
Last year's 9pm ban on cars lapping the street during the Summernats weekend has been limited this year to a ban between 10pm and 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.
While traders are excited to open over what they expect to be a busy weekend, representatives said the government needed to do more to consult with them on the bans.
Eightsix restaurant owner Gus Armstrong said critics of Summernats needed to just get over it.
"Lonsdale Street is electric on those nights," Mr Armstrong said.
He said he was expecting a ripper trade over the weekend during a typically quiet period.
"We don't really get the Summernats demographic, we get people who are interested in the cars and want to be part of the atmosphere," he said.
"To stand out the front of my restaurant on those nights when it's absolutely packed, it's awesome."
Civic Pub's Mr Dawn said last year's ban hurt the pub's turnover for a period when the pub normally doubles business; churning through about 50 kegs a night as people crowded out the front to watch the cars.
"We also watch Summernats out the front of the pub and we enjoy the atmosphere," Mr Dawn said.
At a time when other businesses normally draw their shutters, Summernats gave Mr Dawn a reason to stay open and allow his casual employees to make extra money over the otherwise quiet Christmas period.
"Otherwise they've got the time off; they're casual staff so they don't get paid so they like the extra hours and they get a buzz out of it as well," Mr Dawn said.
Braddon's United Retailers and Traders head Kel Watt said the later ban wasn't a big improvement and could still hurt hospitality businesses on the weekend.
"Last year it was horrible, this is just bad," Mr Watt said.
Mr Watt, who owns Watt Advocacy and Communications on Lonsdale Street, said Braddon traders wanted more involvement in the government's decisions to lock down the street in future.
"Some traders I've spoken to - during the Summernats three- or four-day period - they make more money on those three or four days than the whole month combined," Mr Watt said.
He said over that four-day period the "old Braddon" emerged. What was once a burnout paradise is now a gentrified strip where Mr Watt said he could grab his focaccia and cappuccino.
"It's a clash of what Braddon has become and what Braddon was," Mr Watt said.
"It can be like oil and water."
Mr Watt said Braddon residents bought into the area knowing full well what happened for four days a year and more families were setting up a spot on Lonsdale Street to watch the cars.
Mr Watt said while the Summernats crowd might not fit in with the "yuppies and hipsters" of Braddon, he said attendees knew it was still a good place to go, even if now it was about grabbing a good drink and meal and not doing burnouts into the early hours.
ACT Policing said they would have officers patrolling Canberra's entertainment precincts over the weekend.
Summernats begins on Thursday. The city cruise will be held from 12-1pm.
