CENTRAL WATERFRONT AREA - 1980's

This aerial photo is from the late 80's and shows the familiar layout of the central waterfront area our generation will remember it by.

Yes it soon will only be a memory as it's time to say ta ta to Tayside House, the Leisure Centre and other surrounding features because the zone is currently in the process of being redesigned and modernised with a flashy new look that's gonna dazzle us all!

POSTERN GATE AD & PHOTO

The Postern Gate was a pleasant wee arty gift shop in the Nethergate in the 70's & 80's, run by Edith Cunningham.
It had all sorts of craft styled goodies as you can tell from the advert.
I used to pop in quite regularly to top-up my art postcard collection!
The ad is dated 1977 and the photo was taken in 1985.
They changed the intrusive traffic light into a quaint lamppost for the illustration too!

CRAFT CENTRE ADS - 70's

Here's a couple of ads from the 70's for The Craft Centre in the Nethergate.
They specialised in arty gifts made from a variety of materials.
The basic top ad with just the shop name on it is from 1978.
The one underneath with the Beatrix Potter style mouse, is dated 1977.

NME FASHION ADS - 70's/80's

On the occasions when you couldn't always find what you were looking for in Dundee shops (which was quite often) and you couldn't always afford to go to London to indulge, then the mail order pages in music papers were a good alternative.

The ones above are all from old NME's I have, so let's tuck in...!!

The top ad is dated 1978 and features gear with a distinctly early 70's look - rugby shirt, cheesecloth shirt, embroidered kurta, loons and smock top.

The next 4 ads are all from 1981 and include a mish-mash of punk, new romantic, rock, new wave and soul boy gear, items such as - PVC breeks, denim jacket, bomber jacket, patch jeans, hardcore punk vest, jack boots (with the ad saying that they make Dr Martens look like ballet shoes!), stud belt & wristband, deck shirt, colonial shirt, Syrian scarf, cavalry shirt, regency shirt, leopard print trousers, stripy jeans, Bowie suit, pirate shirt, boating trousers, army surplus, Hawaiian shirt, tukker boots, and plenty more examples in amongst them.

The last one is dated 1985 and already there seems to be a bit of a retro thing going on in their ad with their mohair jumper, bondage trousers, gas cape, ski goggles, buckle boots, creepers and such like.

I'm sure some of you will have spotted your particular look!

I used to send for the odd item using this mail order route. One from around the 1981/82 period being a "Dread At The Controls" T-shirt. It was pertaining to Mikey Dread's radio show - and I wore that for years!!!

I remember Joe Strummer used to wear one too.

So anyway, it seems quite appropriate to include it here.

Click onto the ads to have a closer inspection.

STURROCK'S AD -1972

Here's a shop I never set foot in - Sturrock's in Panmure Street.

Ad dated 1972.

Not my scene maan!

ALEX SMITHS AD - 1972

It was sale time at Alex Smith's in Commercial Street when this ad appeared in 1972.

For the gals there were things like skinny rib jumpers, mini skirts, mini jumpers and a clearance sale of satin & velvet hot pants (I didn't realise Smiths indulged!)

Amongst the guys stuff were car coats (remember them?), stretch nylon track suits, and it being '72 - good old Crombies!

Click on ad to enlarge.

CARHARTT'S AD - 1986

Carhartt's appear to have ditched the Hamilton part of their name when this advert was published in 1986.

It's basically an invite to their factory shop in North Isla Street wanting you to go try out their range of jeans, casual gear and workwear.

Wonder how many people took them up on the offer?

LEVI'S DUNDEE AD - 1984

This ad dates from 1984 and is for the Levi factory up at Dunsinane, even although the address doesn't crop up in it....tele-communication only it seems!

A reminder that there is a photo of the factory interior in the October 2009 archives.

As you can see, Levi denim was so tough, even attaching them to 2 mules heading in the opposite direction couldn't rip them apart!

Staying with denim in the 80's - I remember in 1982 I visited the town in the South of France from which denim gets its name. Nimes - as in (from Nimes "de Nimes") - then shortened to denim.

The thing about it is though, being on the Mediterranean coast - it was far too hot to wear jeans, everyone just wore shorts!!

C&A FASHION - OVERGATE

 

The photo at the top is a wee reminder of how C&A appeared back in the mid 70's - this being the upper level of the Overgate.

In the early 70's, C&A was not exactly a cool shop to go shopping compared to what they had in trendy boutiques. The gents clothing dept for instance sold rather standard stuff - safe, sensible and somewhat boring.

They then came up with a concept in the mid 70's to make them be more hip - "Man At C&A" was their slogan - but the look was still the same corny style stuff in the main.

In the 80's, they did manage to become a bit trendier, the guys had "Avante" and the gals had "Clockhouse", and these ideas did at least catch onto what was going on in street-style fashion.

The first advert is an example of the Man At C&A gear which dates from 1973.

The second is for Clockhouse and is dated 1984.

The third is for younger teenage lassies called Girls In Style, and is dated 1986.

Definitely an improvement on their 70's dreary-wear!

PRIDE AD - 1984

I didn't go to the Market Hall area of Wellgate very often and certainly don't recall this fashion shop called Pride.

The ad is dated 1984 and their slogan was "Clothes That Stand Out Proud" - which may very well have been the case but I'm going to have to get one of you out there to give the lowdown on this place on my behalf - I know nothing about it.

If you do remember it - feel free to pass on the details in the comments.

AD FOR THE WARDROBE - 1986

An ad from 1986 for Whitehall Crescent fashion shop, The Wardrobe.

For the record - there was no truth in the story that they specialised in Winter clothing to cater for those who stepped into The Wardrobe on their way to Narnia!

FASHION FOR TEENAGE GIRLS - 1972

Back in 1972 when this item was published, the Tele used to give the lowdown on the latest fashions each week, accompanied by illustrations like the one above.

The clothes in this particular article are described in detail along with the sizes available and the prices, however, despite the feature being called "In Dundee Shops", it doesn't actually say which shops to go to, to buy them!

Anyway, amongst the groovy gear on show here are things like a mustard sleeveless tunic, crimplene trousers, violet suede pinafore dress, suede jacket with yolk, skinny jumpers, as well as typical 70's details such as patch pockets, long collars, metal studs and suede ties.

Click on item to enlarge.

BUILDING THE WELLGATE CENTRE - 70'S

The top photo shows us how the council reached the decision to grant planning permission for the Wellgate Centre - as you can see, it was based on their observation that the building was "sympathetic to its surroundings", a phrase town planners like to spout!

So it's the mid 70's and the construction work is in full flow - just like the contractors champagne!

Photos by DC Thomson.

RETRO DUNDEE'S 1000TH POST

I noticed a few days ago, that I was approaching post # 1000 on Retro Dundee, so I knocked out this cheery little graphic to mark the moment.
No big deal really but I thought I'd use the junction to put the Retro Dundee contact details up for the very last time.
Being Retro's final year, this is a reminder open to anyone, that if you have any material you reckon is suitable to display - photos, memorabilia, audios, videos - feel free to get in touch via the email address above.
Retro is averaging between 1000 & 1500 hits a day.
Last month had a total of 37,408 views.
And so because this 1000th item isn't a proper post as such, here below is a cracker of a link to the next item I'm going to put up.
A bit of a tease, but there is a wee Dundee connection!

RETRO CARS ON PARADE

Just as a wee reminder, I stitched this slide-show together featuring many of the cars that were on the go in the 60's and early 70's.
Being schoolboy age at the time, much of my knowledge on cars from this era was gathered by trying to avoid them all when playing futba in the streets and down at Craigie lock-ups.
I can still name lots of them from memory - Minx, Consul, Herald, Corsair, Imp, Elf, Zephyr.... all of which crop up in the video below along with around 40 others, including the quirky bubble car!
See how many you can name (I don't have a list by the way)!
My neighbour a couple of doors along from me in Kemnay Gardens had a Zephyr and he used to speed into the culdee about 60mph then slam on the brakes to a scary sudden stop. It was like the batmobile zooming into the batcave (they used to speed the film up for that bit)!
When I was around 12 (1970ish) he once took me to a match at Muirton in his Zephyr and drove all the way at 100mph.
Dundee to Perth in 2 minutes!!

DUDLEYS AD - 1966

Time to close the wardrobe door on another delve into Dundee's past fashions.
So one final aspect of the fashion trade was the essential Dry Cleaners, and here's an advert from 1966 for Dudleys, who not only supplied a same day dry cleaning service but would do your alterations for you too.
There were quite a few Dudleys in town back then - as well as the 3 listed in the ad - Whitehall Crescent, Overgate & Reform Street, they also had premises in Roseangle, Castle Street, Wellgate, Princes Street and up the Cleppie.
I like the Mod girl in the ad with the square earring, but the square with her gives me the creeps!

2 DRAFFENS ADS - 1971 & 1966

As you can see in the top item, by 1971 the store had technically become known as Draffens & Smiths, but everyone, as far as I know, still continued to refer to it as good old Draffens.

Although the store retained it's old traditional feel, it also tried to keep pace with what was happening in the world of fashion, and so on the first floor there was a department called "Best Of Both Worlds" which catered for the fashion-conscious female. Then on the 2nd floor they had a place called the "Style 71 Boutique", a shop for young trendy teenage girls.

Meanwhile, back in 1966, the date of the other ad, as well as supplying more general info about Draffens, they also feature a couple of dress designs as examples of what their fashion departments had on offer.

I forgot all about Guinea's until I saw their prices - the Hardy Amies cocktail dress on the left cost 24 Gns, and the blue lace chiffon gown was 23 Gns.

Click on the ads to read the large version.

SLIC CHIC BOUTIQUE AD - 1978

So then, who shopped in this wee kinky corner of town back in 1978?
It's the Slic Chic Boutique advertising their rather specialized stock - exotic underwear.
Here's me thinking the Albert Street area was more of a string vest type of neighbourhood too!

LILIAN'S BOUTIQUES - 1973

There were 2 of Lilian's boutiques in town in 1973 - the one in Panmure Street specializing in French perfume, and the other in Whitehall Crescent that stocked Mary Quant designs.

To give you a reminder of the kind of fashion that was on the go in 1973, below is a news item featuring the latest creations on show in Paris that year.

I'm not particularly impressed with what's on offer in the Paris collection mind you. Most of it looks a bit on the corny side to me.

Even the hot-pants don't look anything like the proper ones the girls on Top Of The Pops used to wear.

The Oxford Bags being about the only item on the footage I think that look ok.

THE UNDERWORLD CAFE - 1960'S

The Underworld Cafe, on the go in the 60's, was to be found at 204 Perth Road, sharing the building with the Shakespeare Restaurant.
Owner was Alf Paladini, the guy in the picture.
Not sure if the interior designer had a split personality, but there seems to be a bit of a bizarre clash going on between a Swiss chalet look and a tropical island hut!
I like the tree trunk seats mind you.
By 1970, the place had changed to the Gold Lucky Chinese restaurant.
The advert is dated 1965.