ELENA MAE ADS

Elena Mae had shops in Reform Street and Castle Street.

The top ad from 1966 is typical of the kind of stock they'd have on offer - in this case an Asahi Pentax Spotomatic.

The full page ad under it appeared in the Sunday Post in December 1973.

Although the shop specialised in photographic equipment, by the 70's they also sold items such as binoculars, calculators and cassette recorders.

My old man used to favour Elena Mae's when he did photography in the 60's and when my older brother took it up in the 70's, he also shopped there.

I have no memory of myself ever having been in their shops so don't know much else about them.

Click on the ads to enlarge if you want to read the small details.

THE AULD DUNDEE PIE SHOP

I'm gonna have a food theme running over the next few days featuring local cuisine and restaurants galore - and so where better to start than with one of the city's most famous names - Wallace's.

These 2 ads from the 60's are for The Auld Dundee Pie Shop (Wallace's) in Castle Street, now no longer with us.

In the top ad it mentions that the original shop was situated in the Vault area of town before moving to it's permanent location in Castle Street, a shop I'm sure every Dundonian our age has been to.

Now I'm no expert, but I would mark their pie and bridie pastry 10 out of 10, but would only give them 1 out of 10 for the peely-wally clump of gristle inside!

Hope that doesn't make me seem disloyal, because I did feast on them for many years.
Then in December 1977, Reo Stakis stepped in and bought the lot for £75,000.

Below is a short clip of local celeb, Frank Gilfeather, indulging...!!

SOUND CONTROL AD - 1989

Here's an ad from the late 80's for Sound Control, the music shop in Castle Street.
The store is a thing of the past now, the premises presently being the location of the Academy of Music.

And on that note, I will bring to an end the recent music theme, which has been running for 3 weeks. There will definitely be another music themed run in a few weeks time because I'm still loaded with stuff. For now though, it's time to have a wee breather and a change of subject.

HIGH STREET CORNER AREA - 1970'S

This is how the High Street looked in the early 70's, looking down towards Commercial Street from Castle Street.
The 3 main shops in the photograph are no longer there.
These are, from left to right, TIMBERLAND on the corner of Commercial St/Seagate. This was one of the very first shops to delve into the D.I.Y. market. All your tools, wood, paints etc under the one roof. It wasn't until a few years later that the concept came to be presented on a larger scale and placed in retail park warehouses.
On the High Street is HALFORDS, the bicycle shop. Again another shop that has gone for the larger retail park format. Not so handy if all you want is a puncture repair kit!
And of course, the Castle Street corner belonged to baker ANDREW G KIDD. Worth a visit just for the aromatherapy!!

TINDALLS - CASTLE STREET - 1984

A reminder of how Tindall's in Castle Street looked back in July 84.
The food for thought slogan on the side of their van reminded me (Food For Thought = UB40 reference)  that I was at a reggae disco in Tindall's one Sunday afternoon back then. It was something a bit different from the usual Sunday offerings in town anyway and it was well attended too.

Tindall's closed down in January 1988.

Photo by DC Thomson.

CACTUSVILLE - CASTLE STREET - 1982

Cute on the outside - kitsch on the inside!

It's Cactusville, in Castle Street.

It sure was shiny, what with all those mirrors and all that chrome - but on reflection, this, along with the bright green seating, was quite trendy back then.

You may remember the name Cactusville was the hometown of Desperate Dan in the Dandy.

Can't remember the pub selling cow pie at lunchtime mind you!!

All pics were taken in 1982.

Photos by DC Thompson.

TINDALLS ADS - 1980's

Tindalls opened for biz in Castle Street around 1980ish.

I think I'm right in saying that this is the pub that had the bare floorboards, which was a bit of a novelty at the time.

Why I'm not 100% certain is because my memory is doing battle with Cactusville, another pub that opened in Castle Street around about the same time.

Anyway, Tindalls used to put bands on fairly regularly.

The advert here displays a typical kind of line-up they had entertaining weekly.

I know Havana Swing, Some Bad Shirts and The Divorce Brothers are all local bands, but I'm unsure if Streets Of Nowhere, Kashmir and Daylight Robbery were Dundee based.

So, it's up to you now to help fill in the details.

The place closed down in 1988.

The top ad is dated 1981.

Mid ad is May 1986.

Bottom notice is January 1988.