Reader Paul Woodham just wrote in with a few memories of his time in Durban:
Lived in Durban from October 1970 to January 1972. What an incredible place; once you get the sand between the toes you are hooked. Will never forget the city. Used to frequent the Cumberland and played darts for the hotel.
Remember The Los Angeles in Berea (Lionel behind the bar), The Cooge , Crazy Horse Saloon. Stayed in Berea lido !!! Mentone Mansions and The Oceanic. Worked for SARAH as a crane driver.
* Jason Fox is interested to know if anyone has info about an old toll booth in the Drummond valley.
* Helene Beisheim wrote in to ask if anyone had information about an old Durban house:
The Manor House which now forms part of the San Kellind complex. Rumour has it that it belonged to the Tollkeeper’s son? A prominent feature of the House is its lovely stone arches.
I need more information about the house I am an co-owner of. It’s name is ‘San Kellind’ and the street address is 15 Charles Henwood Avenue. It is situated on the corner of Charles Strachan and Charles Henwood Ave. The house is about 100 yrs old, if not more, and I would like to find about the history.
Thank you.
* Mo Heine would like to know if there was a drive-inn cinema in Umhlanga and would interested in any photographs, if available.
Please use the the contact link above to drop me a line if you can help with any of the above.
Regular contributor Gerald Buttigieg has compiled a list of cinemas which existed in Durban in 1938. I have added it to the bottom of the second cinema page here.
Nothing beats a picture to recall old stamping grounds and though my memories are peculiar to me that does not mean that perhaps some of us in this passing parade, called life, did not move around in or know the same areas. Recently I was down in Durban and had the opportunity to roam around the area I grew up in as a 12 year old. That was round about 1955 and my, how the area has changed. There is a topic about urban decay in Durban on FAD and I was astounded how down the area has become. When one does venture into the older central part of Durban, having known it when it was thriving and vibrant, what one comes across and sees is really sad. Unfortunately there are no “before” photos to compare but for the record and before they are all pulled down and demolished here are photos and my memories of them. Read More
Ian Hart is working on a history of Brazilian whaling and is trying to track down pictures of two vessels which were operated by the Union Whaling Company as the R. L. GOULDING and R. K. FRAAY until sold to a Japanese company that operated them in Recife as the DAISHIN MARU NO. 1 and DAISHIN MARU NO.2. Please contact me if you can help.
I have just had an interesting e-mail from my informant Graham Read. In it he gives details of a character fondly remembered by many Durban schoolboys and who has appeared in these pages a couple of times before [in the entry for 27 December 2007 and the second paragraph on this page]. Graham wrote:
There have been a couple of mentions in FAD of Ralph Whittle, who was in his time a “famous” character of the Berea Park whom I met while I lived opposite the park and was one of the park kids around 1950. I very much doubt there was a boy on the Berea in those days who had not met or at least heard of Ralph. In later years I was interested to hear he had become an almost legendary figure. Read More
I am sure that many who read FAD are interested in family who lived in Durban and have passed on. Some years ago I befriended someone who was very into genealogy and with my wife being of Mack stock, original Isipingo pioneers, I became interested in the Mack family history. It became rather interesting because Dick King resided in Isipingo so it tied in with my interest in Durban.
I was later informed by my genealogy friend of an ongoing national project to photograph gravestones for a permanent record. Perhaps the general dereliction and disregard for cemeteries today was a driver for this massive project.
For information then, if you are interested where your family is buried, here is a simple guide how to access the information. Read More
My regular correspondent Allan Hannah left an interesting comment on a previous post and I have elected to create a whole new post with it because it could open up a whole new line of discussion. He wrote:
Whilst indulging myself by using the FAD “search facility” to try to find out what has been said, or unsaid, about the hinterland, west of Durban I came across a reference to “Merve the Swerve” aka as Mervyn Gray. Presumably AllanJ made the comment and I wonder whether this was the same Mervyn that was at DHS, had sandy coloured hair, freckles and wore glasses! Read More
As I have done in the past two years I am listing what happened in Durban 50 years ago as recorded by my late father in law, Archie Black in his newspaper scrap books. It dawned on me some months ago that perhaps I should also record what happened in Durban 40 years ago in 1973. To be realistic, I may not be around in 10 years time and one never knows perhaps, FAD may also be history. So this year I also record both 1963 and 1973 and will later add 1971 and 1972 to the notes of 1961 and 1962.
Later edit : 1971 and 1972 have now been added to 1961 and 1962 respectively.Read More
Christmas has been and gone here down under but I’d still like to wish everyone all the best both for Christmas and the new year. The site would not have lasted without your interest and I’d like to thank for that.
FAD will be 10 years old in the coming year, but more of that soon….
My informant John Taylor wrote in with a comment about a recent trip through the Durban CBD which came as a bit of a shock to him. I had many of the same feelings even though I left the place nearly two years ago. Here’s what he had to say:
There are a number of accounts of the Durban CBD at various times in Durban’s history by various contributors to FAD (one of them being me).
It was a reasonably elegant place.
I haven’t had any reason to visit the CBD for some time, but a few days ago on a late Saturday afternoon I drove down West Street (or whatever obscure political activist’s name the street now bears) and I was shocked at how badly urban decay had set in, as well as the amount of filth and rubbish strewn around the pavements and street. The place was hardly recognisable from the CBD residing in my memory banks!
I guess that, like Johannesburg, the new Durban CBD has moved north, leaving the old behind, as a consequence of political and demographic change, and the fact that much of South Africa is seriously third world in nature.
Despite this reality I could not help but feel great sadness at the state of a once great city.
Perhaps some of FAD’s readers and contributors also have comments and observations in this respect?
