ACDC Lane

ACDC Lane

The street sign for ACDC Lane in Melbourne
Former name(s) Corporation Lane
Location Melbourne (city centre)
Coordinates 37°48′56″S 144°58′15″E / 37.815505°S 144.970822°E / -37.815505; 144.970822Coordinates: 37°48′56″S 144°58′15″E / 37.815505°S 144.970822°E / -37.815505; 144.970822

ACDC Lane is a street in Melbourne. It is a short, narrow laneway, running south from Flinders Lane between Exhibition Street and Russell Street in the central business district of Melbourne.

The street was formerly called Corporation Lane, but was renamed on 1 October 2004 as a tribute to Australian rock band AC/DC. The Melbourne City Council's vote to rename the street was unanimous.[1] The trademark lightning bolt or slash ("/") used to separate the AC and the DC in the band's name contravened the naming policy of the Office of the Registrar of Geographic Names, so the punctuation was omitted on the street sign.

Melbourne's Lord Mayor John So launched ACDC Lane with the words, "As the song says, there is a highway to hell, but this is a laneway to heaven. Let us rock." Bagpipers then played "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)." One month after the renaming, a lightning bolt was erected above and below the street sign by fan called Knifeyard.[2] The lightning bolt was removed at a later date.

The lane contains a rock 'n' roll nightclub called the Cherry Bar.

Reason for the name

A poster of Angus Young in ACDC Lane, September 2010

Corporation Lane (the generic name assigned to otherwise unnamed lanes in Melbourne) was renamed, in part, due to the band AC/DC's ties to Melbourne, their status as cultural ambassadors for Australia, and the lane's position in the city's bar and rock district.[3]

See also

Australian Roads portal

References

  1. Boulton, Martin, "Lane way to the top for AC/DC", The Age, 10 September 2004. Retrieved on 15 February 2007.
  2. "The legend lives on in a laneway to heaven", The Age, 15 February 2005. Retrieved on 15 February 2007.
  3. Donovan, Patrick, "Mayor thunderstruck with AC/DC", The Age, 8 July 2004. Retrieved on 15 February 2007.

External links

Media related to ACDC Lane at Wikimedia Commons

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