For the love of Laz: Guerilla lane named after vivacious neighbour

If you’re lucky, one day you’ll have a neighbour like Laz Stark.

In the seven years he lived in Graceburn Avenue in Carnegie, Mr Stark was the life of the street party and all round good guy.

Laz’s legacy: locals fed up with a grotty lane created lush Laz’s Lane full of plants and art in Carnegie. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

He was known for mowing neighbours' nature strips, pitching in at Carnegie Primary School working bees and walking people's dogs.

He also helped clear broken glass and junk from a grotty public lane that leads off Graceburn Avenue and runs behind residents' backyards.

After Laz died of cancer in 2018, residents decided to turn the laneway into something beautiful, which they have now named Laz's Lane after him.

Kirsten Brooks, a founder and curator of Laz’s Lane in Carnegie.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Neighbours Kirsten Brooks and Robynne Wilson formed a guerilla group – water-blasting the concrete path, flanking it with plants and painting fences.

They planted spider plants, agapanthus, ferns and geraniums from their own gardens and a Little Library was installed.

Today, regular weeding sessions are held here; lemons, chillies and artichokes are free for the taking; and Ms Brooks curates a mailbox to the fairies (one bold child’s request to meet them was politely evaded).

Artist Anthony Breslin donated paintings of frogs, and Brigitte Dawson donated two murals.

The little library and a Brigitte Dawson painting in Laz’s Lane.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

But you don't have to be an artist to exhibit. There is children’s finger painting and knitters' yarn bombing.

One woman "burst into tears" of happiness when Ms Brooks hung up her sketches in the lane.

Technically, the locals didn’t get council permission to do-up the lane.

Ms Brooks says one day they might raze the place. "But I’d be very upset, and I think we’d have public outcry."

Laz Stark.Credit:Ian Tatam

But last November the council brought a busload of people here as part of an Open Gardens day. Laz's Lane has also featured in a council newsletter.

Mr Stark's partner of 20 years, Ian Tatam, said he would have really loved it.

"I love it. I get very emotional. I come down quite frequently and wander through, when I’m thinking about him," Mr Tatam said.

Ms Brooks wants everyone to make their mark and in the spirit of Mr Stark, to feel "that they’re welcome and they belong".

A local woman, Sherryn Danaher, wrote a poem that is now displayed proudly. One line sums the place up: "When the traffic gets frenetic, when life’s sending you insane, replace crazy with aesthetic, take a stroll down Laz’s Lane."

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