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September 18, 2007
I spent yesterday morning walking the back lanes of a self-confident Melbourne as a photographic flaneur exploring Caledonian Lane off Little Bourke Street, Centre Place off Flinders Lane and Hosier Lane near Federation Square.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, 2007
Melbourne buzzed with its coffee shops, bars, restaurants and it has become much more people friendly. Is this 'Melbourne cool'? Melbourne has an 'in-your-face' market ethos" of work hard, make a lot spend it on consumption because you deserve it. It doesn't matter that you go into debt--have fun.
The contrast to this market culture is provided by the Melbourne lanes, and by Julie Shiels at the excellent "City Traces.
I was mostly interested in the visual street culture in these funky lanes that signify the revitalization of the CBD:
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, 2007
Residents are flocking back to the city streets, moving into apartments that were once warehouses, lofts that once housed offices. The vibrancy has returned and the city's lanes and alleys are leading the way as with Hardware Lane. Suzy Freeman-Greene in The Age says that:
Melbourne's lanes have an intimacy, a palpable history, you won't find amid northern skyscrapers and harbour panoramas. Lanes are textured, their past vivified in old bricks, torn posters, faint signs. Lanes give us strange new views: the arse-end of buildings; a kitchen hand slumped on a back step during smoko; bits of towers looming above brick walls.
There is an extremely rich visual street culture in the CBD of Melbourne and the walls should be made legal, celebrated and protected.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, 2007
Melbourne has an intimate and enchanting web of lanes, alleys, little streets and arcades. boutiques, unique galleries, tiny cafés and hidden bars.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 European-style cafés, while at the same time charming and old-fashioned.
I had lunch in Degraves Street and then explored a very grimy Centre Place.This is where Melbourne’s love affair with coffee explores its roots in the many Euro-type cafes that are crammed into the narrow streets.
The renaissance began with the run-down studio spaces around Flinders Lane, which were buzzing with young artists, clothes designers and jewellers. The cafes began by servicing a bunch of struggling young entrepreneurs, who are now celebrated for their role in rejuvenating the city.
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