Victoria's latest tourism slogan aims to make Melbourne the destination of choice for Australia's elite by urging visitors to "Lose Yourself in Melbourne".
OFTEN MISSED BY TOURISTS, MELBOURNE’S LANEWAYS ARE A VERITABLE TREASURE TROVE OF BARS, RESTAURANTS, GALLERIES AND BOUTIQUES.
Melbourne’s laneways are narrow enclaves where mainstream culture takes a back seat to allow for one-off boutiques, unique galleries, tiny cafés and hidden bars.
Lanes of Melbourne by Aaron Hewett
Melbourne lanes are some of Melbourne's most interesting places. They make exploring the city on a Saturday afternoon fun - for even the most seasoned Melbourne explorer.
This is my photo essay on the interesting (and not so interesting) laneways in Melbourne's CBD. Since there are over 180 of these small, tiny and miniscule streets - this project might take me a while. I hope to do at least one laneway a week - that way it will take me only three and a half years.
I'm doing this out of fun, doing this to know my adopted city better and to give you out there inspiration to go exploring yourselves.
Weblink > Lanes of Melbourne
Melbourne Lanes - Lanes of Melbourne
ACDC Lane, Melbourne (AC/DC Lane)
Beaney Lane
Bennetts Lane
Bligh Place
Celestial Lane
Club Lane
Cohen Place
Commerce Way
Crombie Lane
Dame Edna Place, formerly Browns Alley
Davisons Place
Duckboard Place
Evans Lane
Exploration Lane
Flinders Court
Gun Alley
Hayward Lane
Highlander Lane
Hosier Lane
Juliet Alley
Jones Lane
Manton Lane
McKillop Street
Meyers Place
Niagara Lane
Rankins Lane
Racing Club Lane
Romeo Alley
Temperance Hall Lane
Waratah Place
Warburton Alley
Windsor Place
ACDC Lane - AC/DC Lane (formerly Corporation Lane) was only recently renamed in memory of one of Australia's most successful musical exports. It connects with Duckboard Place and is between Flinders Lane, Flinders St, Russell St and Exhibition St.
Dame Edna Place (formerly Browns Alley) located off Little Collins St, between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, was crowded with interested lunchtime "possums" for the launch on March 08, 2007.
Laneways in Melbourne - Visit Victoria
Behind the sensible, ordered grid of city blocks is a world just waiting to be explored. Detour from the main trails and discover Melbourne's intimate and enchanting web of lanes, alleys, little streets and arcades. Each has its own story to tell and each is not shy about telling it. Some lanes have been reborn and hum with quirky city life. Others are still waiting to be discovered.
Melbourne's love affair with lanes The Age - January 1, 2005
We love our laneways so much that we are trying to make new ones, writes Suzy Freeman-Greene.
What's in a lane? It depends where you are. In Drewery Lane, you'll find the back end of shops, locked gates, hanging pots, the Celebrity Wig Store, trees, distressed bricks and second-hand books. Posters for a concert - Music For a Cleaner Future - are stuck on a freshly painted, tan wall.
What's in a street name? - The Age By Andrew Webster February 19, 2004
... But Melbourne's lanes and alleys offer a more down-to-earth record of the city's evolution. "The lanes really grew their own names," Professor Bate, president of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, said.
With some 115 entries, the society yesterday launched its first handy reference guide to the names of Melbourne's streets and lanes. Aimed at visitors and Melburnians, the pocket brochure explains the origin of most of the city's streets, lanes and alleys.
Aimed at visitors and Melburnians, the pocket brochure explains the origin of most of the city's streets, lanes and alleys. According to Professor Bate, the early lanes sprang up as Melbourne's settlers subdivided the big blocks between Sir Richard's grand streets into more manageable units.
Many lanes were filled with workers' cottages. "People often named them after pubs and hotels on corners," Professor Bate said. No fewer than 21 entries can be traced back to gold-rush Melbourne's affection for alcohol.
Professor Bate's favourite, the cobbled Niagara Lane, lies nestled between well-preserved, red-brick warehouses off Lonsdale Street where the Niagara Hotel plied its trade.
Later, as Marvellous Melbourne boomed, lane names recorded the city's burgeoning specialist trade areas and long-vanished businesses - Hosier Lane off Flinders; Kirks Lane, once home to Kirk's Horse Bazaar between Swanston and Queen Street; biscuit baker TB Guest and Co in William Street is remembered by the eponymous lane between Lonsdale and Little Bourke.
However, some memories have all but been erased. Romeo Lane and Juliet Terrace near the Princess Theatre were once infamous dens of love of a commercial, rather than star-crossed nature. According to Professor Bate, Melbourne councillors reacted by attempting a futile rebranding exercise.
"The good city council decided they would have to change the names and so they became Liverpool and Crossley Streets," he said. "But of course the brothels remained."
Melbourne's Streets and Lanes is available free from the society's offices in A'Beckett Street (named after Victoria's first chief justice Sir William A'Beckett) and at the visitor centre at Federation Square.
Also see Melbourne Street Name Origins
Melbourne Laneways
Breakfast is best served in the heart of the Flinders Quarter, in and around the lanes and alleys branching off Flinders Lane between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. The atmosphere of this precinct is modern, with its high fashion and crowded cafés, while at the same time charming and old-fashioned.
Degraves Street and Centre Place are two of the best, where Melbourne’s love affair with coffee explores its roots in the many European-inspired cafes crammed almost comfortably into the narrow streets.
For some mid-morning retail therapy, further explore Flinders Lane, the quintessential and original Melbourne laneway. where the old home of the city’s rag trade now abounds with boutiques selling fashion by emerging designers.
Seek out side streets Scott Alley and the top end of Centre Place for original pieces, and savour them, as their designers may soon be household names and their early work priceless.
The heart of Melbourne’s laneway renaissance. Hardware Lane, epitomises the enchanting atmosphere of such environments. The architecture of Hardware Lane and nearby Goldie Place is also something of a quaint historical portrait, with early 1900s warehouses originally home to blacksmiths, horses and the like, still intact. Today, however, they operate as restaurants. The original façades remain,enhancing the authentic nature of this precinct while complementing its modern regeneration as an area of leisure.
For a true understanding of laneway art, a journey of exploration into side lanes must be taken, as it is here that street art and an authentic urban voice can be found. Graffiti though it may be. these colourful references to popular culture and youth subcultures dominate the concrete walls of tiny Hosier Lane, Rutledge Lane, Caledonian Croft Alley, Duckboard Place and the aptly named ACDC Lane others, and offer an insight into life behind the city’s skyscrapers.
For a memorable Melbourne dining experience visit George Parade off the Paris (top) end of Collins Street, where several basement restaurants thrive. Also featuring below-ground eateries is Bar within the city’s legal precinct, where pub grub sits comfortable award-winning cuisine. Block Place is another alternative, jazz can be heard over the din of patrons crowded into tiny wood paneled cafés.
To sample fine Asian cuisine venture to Little Bourke Street. otherwise known as Chinatown. Explore the alleys off the main strip, as this is where the local Chinese eat, an indication of the authenticity of the eateries that lie within.
At the centre of Melbourne’s laneway resurgence, the bars hidden throughout the city’s web of lanes embody the spirit of the of the areas which they are located. Unassuming doorways often leading into basements or upstairs lofts pave the way into surprisingly spacious interiors. Catering to virtually every music preference and drinking palate, ranging from designer cool to unashamedly bohemian, what is certain is that no two are exactly alike.
A close synergy with street art means that a return to Caledonian Lane, ACDC Lane, Duckboard and Hosier Lane is in order. Meyers Place, Bullens Lane. Sniders Lane and Market Lane also house some of the city’s best bars. For jazz in its true form, head to Bennetts Lane or Manchester Lane.
The lasting wisdom after one day exploring Melbourne’s laneways that more time is required to shop in another tiny boutique, dine in another basement restaurant, search for another hidden bar and experience the renaissance all over again. There is clearly no other option than a return visit.
Books
Bate, W (1994) Essential But Unplanned; The Story of Melbourne's Lanes, State Library of Victoria/City of Melbourne. Melbourne, Victoria.
Amendment C105 - CBD Laneways Review
The City of Melbourne is proposing to introduce a new policy to Melbourne’s Planning Scheme through Amendment C105, to ensure that any new development in Melbourne’s unique laneways enhances their character and quality through sensitive design.
Melbourne lanes. |
20°C
