SOUNDS LIKE THE 60'S - #2

I remember when I was aged 9, waking up early one morning at our home in Craigie while the rest of my family were still asleep.
This was just total instinct, no alarm clock needed because I had a special little something running around my mind from the days building up to it.
So I sneaked out my room, tiptoed downstairs to the living room and quietly turned the big radiogram on, as in the one shown above.
Reason..??
It was Saturday 30th September 1967 and time to find out what the first ever record to be played on Radio 1 would be.
Turned out to be one of my favourites back then.
Here below is what I heard...

SOUNDS LIKE THE 60'S - #1

Being schoolboy age in the 60's lead to my generation having a superb music soundtrack to accompany that particular decade. Not only was there all that superior pop music on radio, but even when arriving home from school, switching the tv on to watch kids programmes had an amazing amount of memorable music on offer too. Whether it be catchy classical tunes on "The adventures of Robinson Crusoe" or the jazzy grooves of "Vision On", none of the music presented for school kids sounded infantile or patronising. 
Here below, is another 60's music genre that sounded great, a touch of experimental electronica from BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. The show is "Bleep & Booster" which was shown on Blue Peter in the late 60's, with nice cartoon artwork by William "Tim" Tymym.
The photo above is my wee brother laughing along with David Jacobs on TV, so it may have been Jukebox Jury that was on at the time.
It's as if he wants to grab a card with "Hit" or "Miss" on it..!!

LIZ McCOLGAN PARADE - 1986

This is Liz McColgan ( although she was still Liz Lynch at this stage in her career ) and her Team mates being paraded down Reform Street in an open top bus in 1986. This was to celebrate her winning 2 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games that year.

TARTAN TRIM & THE ROLLERS MYTH - 1970's

It has become common knowledge that the Bay City Rollers tartan trimmed outfits were unique to the band, like, they came up with the idea ... but that is not so.

I can't speak for all of UK but up in Scotland, teenage tartan-based street fashion had been around since at least 1972, two years before the Bay City Rollers appeared on Top Of The Pops wearing it.

In 1972, shops were already selling tartan trim shirts, for example, "Target two-tone tartan shirts" - Target being the brand name.

These shirts were also referred to as Western shirts and Ranch shirts but they all had the same shoulder and pocket tartan trim design in common.

There were plenty of youngsters wearing them in 1972  - talking early to mid teens here, secondary school age group, and there were lots of pupils at my school who wore this gear back then.

As well as Target shirts, streetwise teenagers also had a DIY thing going where they would customise clothes by adding tartan trim to jeans & denim jackets, for example, tartan turn-ups, pockets, cuffs, and collars.

So when the Bay City Rollers showed up on Top Of The Pops wearing this gear in 1974, it was exactly the same as what youngsters had been wearing in Scotland for the past couple of years.

That's what made them appealing to young teenagers - they related to the Rollers because it was down to earth street fashion which was available to buy locally, not like the flashy stage outfits glam rockers wore up to that point.

This look, along with high-waist jerseys and half mast trousers was a popular teen fad.

For instance, guys wore their trousers half mast to show off their Doc Marten boots and gals wore theirs half mast to display their hooped socks.

Even Noddy Holder was wearing his trousers half mast in 72 to show off his hooped socks.

BCR wore theirs half-mast for the same reason, to show off their platform boots, baseball boots and hooped socks.

Also, wearing a scarf tied around your wrist and having a scarf dangling from the waist of your trousers was commonplace in 1972, so the Rollers wearing their scarves like that on TOTP was nothing new.

It wasn't until the Rollers achieved worldwide fame in 1975 that the band started to have their own special versions of this look custom made.

They even went as far as having their own official BCR tartan.

But it definitely wasn't Bay City Rollers who invented this fashion trend first - they just adopted the look that was already popular, then adapted it later when fame kicked in.

Top image is an illustration of the Target tartan shirts that were available in 1972.

Next is an image of girls wearing half mast trousers to display their hooped socks which is dated 1972 as well.

Below that is a photo of Bay City Rollers dated 1972 - this is what the band looked like then, no tartan trimmed garments, hooped socks or half-mast trousers in sight.

Under it is snippets from Scottish shop advertisements, with the ones dating from 1972 having tartan trim shirts on sale, and then later in 1975 these shirts were now being referred to as Bay City Rollers shirts.

Beneath that is a photo of the band in 1975, and now, all five are clad in tartan.

It wasn't until 1975 when most streetwise guys saw how popular the tartan trim look had become with very young teenybopper girls, that most abandoned the gear and let the BCR gals continue with it themselves.

Click on images to enlarge.

PRIMO'S IN HUNTLY SQUARE

Owned by Primo Zaccarini, PRIMO'S CAFE in Huntly Square in the 60's, was really a chip shop rather than a sit-in cafe.
The outside door on the right of the shop took you to a curvy grey formica counter that swept along in front of the frying area and lead to a confectionery corner on the left.
The outside door on the left opened into a small ice-cream parlour that was partitioned off from the main shop but you could also get to from a door inside.
In the early 70's the premises was taken over by Nan Howard although it still remained the same chip shop & confectioner set up.

Here below, is a wee slideshow of some of the products that would have been available from the ice-cream parlour in the 60's & 70's.

Photo by DC Thomson.

 

DA VINCI'S - WESTPORT - 1980'S

Da  Vinci's in Westport was often viewed as a "posers" pub in the 80's, but I didn't find it too bad at all, it was quite trendy I'd say.

As the name suggests, they were referring to Leonardo da Vinci and so they had an artists palette as part of their logo as well as examples of his artwork on the walls (prints, not originals of course!).

The ground floor had a bar and a small lounge area on a raised floor.

Upstairs was the main attraction though, with it's small dancefloor with DJ's playing regularly. It could get really crowded at times, but there were some great lively nights to be had there.

A lot of revellers often ended up having it as the last pub on their pub crawl before hitting the nearby discos!.

The colour shot above shows the location of Da Vinci's - the double-roofed white building in the corner of the car-park. Pic taken in 1982.

The black & white images were both taken in the upstairs area in 1981.

Photos by DC Thomson.

AMMONIA SPILLAGE ACCIDENT - 1972

My brother captured this accident that happened in Arbroath Road near Kingsway circle in February 1972.

A trailer full of ammonia overturned and burst, spilling the contents all over the road.

The powerful odour was so strong, it made it difficult to breathe when the fumes drifted over the Craigie area.

It took place around lunchtime and I recall folk in Craigie having to close their windows.

We school kids used it as an excuse to return to Craigie High School late that afternoon, complete with watery eyes and hankies covering the face.

At least the firemen only had to nip down the road a few yards to attend!

Click the cutting to read the report.

THE MUSEUM IN THE 60's

When in town in the 60's, I used to like to pop into the Albert Museum (as it was called then) before jumping on a #26 bus back home.

The entrance was on the corner of the Museum nearest to Commercial Street.

Some of the exhibits on show were, McIntosh Patrick's famous "Tay bridge from studio" painting, a weird ethnic shrunken head, lots of stuffed animals & birds, dugout canoes, a mock up of 2 old Victorian house interiors, a scale model of the old city centre/Overgate area, crystals & rocks ( with ultra violet light ), and of course, the Tay Whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

THE KEYHOLE - NORTH LINDSAY STREET

The Keyhole in North Lindsay Street, opened in the early 80's.

It was owned by ex Ice Hockey player Marshall Key, hence the wordplay related pub name.

The interior was very spacious, with a sunken serving bar in the centre of the floor.

It also later had large screens, as I recall it being packed with Scots fans watching a match one time I was there.

BOY MEETS GIRL - OVERGATE - 1974

Boy Meets Girl in the Overgate, was Dundee's first go at a "Unisex" boutique in the early/mid 70's - the concept being to sell gents & ladies clothing from the same shop, rather than from separate stores or departments as it had been up to that time. You can see the window display has both male and female garments mixing with each other.

It's a pity it was a rather short-lived store because despite the place selling all the latest up-to-date gear around, it also had the best shopfront logo on town!

Photo by DC Thomson.

JEREMY THE "SUGAR PUFFS" BEAR

In the 60's, Jeremy the bear was used to advertise "Sugar puffs" on tv, until a few years later when they replaced the real bear with a cartoon one. As a result of Jeremy becoming unemployed, it was kept at Camperdown Zoo, from around 1970.

Jeremy was actually a female, and she died in Dundee in 1990.

Photo by The Scotsman.

DUNDEE'S THIRD BRIDGE - 1980's

First there was the Rail Bridge, then the Road Bridge and finally this piece of modern sculpture, called "The Bridge". This one was erected around the early 80's in Hunter Street, Blackness/Westport area, and made by artist Ron Martin. It was of course the kind of bridge you would have on a cello or double-bass. You can just make out the 4 notches along the top where the strings would go.

DUNDEE GANG JERSEYS IN THE 70's

Dundee gangs in the 70's came up with a unique way of displaying which housing scheme they came from - by wearing jerseys of different colours.

Most of these high V-neck jersey's were made at the Knitting & Sewing Centre in Victoria Road.

The design consisted of 1 main broad band across the chest and arms, with a pocket on the top left of the chest in inverted colours, and 2 thin bands around the waist, cuffs & collar.

As time went by, customised variants would be seen, such as pockets on the upper arms, initials on the pockets, and anything up to 5 bands around the waist & cuffs.

In addition, most gangs usually wore the colours in their opposite layout, like for example, as well as a blue jersey with black band, they'd have a black jersey with a blue band. A bit like having a home & away strip.

There were also cardigan versions of the concept.

Although this gang knitwear was exclusively Dundee based, the designs were an adaptation of the high V-neck jersey worn by Steve Ellis, singer with 60's band Love Affair, Fred Perry 60's cyclist shirts and American Varsity College cardigans UK Mods wore in the 60's.

The V-neck jersey's above are - TODDY (Douglas), MID (Mid Craigie), HUNS (Kirkton), MOB (Beechwood), SHAMS (Fintry), FLEET (Lochee).

The cardigans are - HUNS (Hilltown), SHAMS (Whitfield), PAK (Ardler), YMB (St Mary's), HULA (Linlathen), SHADE (upper Hilltown).

These examples are just a small selection of who was wearing what back then.

Click on the images to enlarge/download.

ALEX SMITH'S - COMMERCIAL STREET

Apart from being taken there with my parents in the 60's, the only reason for visiting large department stores on my own at schoolboy age would be for clothes or toys.
In the case of Alex Smith's in Commercial Street, they had quite a decent sports department I recall buying a few items from.

Photo by DC Thomson.

DUNDEE - EUROPE - DUNDEE - 1983

I started using Inter Rail cards in 1980, and this one from 1983 was my 4th and last year of travelling this way. I chose to go to Greece going through the former Yugoslavia (despite lots of advice not to take that route). So the place names on the card are - DUNDEE - LONDON - DOVER - CALAIS - PARIS - NICE - VENTIMIGLIA - MILAN - VENICE - TRIESTE - BELGRADE - BAR (near the Albanian border) - THESSALONIKA - ALEXANDROUPOLIS (near the Turkish border) - ATHENS - KALAMATA - PATRAS, then pretty much the same route back up to VENICE. The trip from VENICE to LONDON was the direct Orient Express route through Switzerland. Then of course, back home to DUNDEE.
Click on the image to enlarge.

THE TRAIN LEAVING DUNDEE

It was good to get away from Dundee from time to time. I enjoyed travelling by train, so in the early 80's I pounced on the chance to get an Inter Rail card, which allowed unlimited travel around Europe for 1 month. Dead easy to use. Just write the destination on the card and away you go. No need to queue for tickets.
Unlike nowadays, when most people tend to choose their own holiday dates, back then most folk were stuck with the "Dundee fortnight". On the Friday everybody came off work, it seemed like half the town teemed down to the rail station to depart!

HUGH FARQUHAR AD - 1976

By the early 70's, Dundee was trying to move away from the traditional old style barbers and get into more modern "hairdressing".
Farquhar's in the High Street was probably the most obvious example, this being the place to go for feather cuts, tints, Bowie cuts and so on.

ROBERTSON'S - VICTORIA STREET BARBER

Robertson's in Victoria Street was the barber's I used to go to in the 60's when I was Primary School age. I remember the barber's used to put a plank of wood across the top of the barber chair's arms for kids to sit on because the youngsters would otherwise be too low down in the chair for barber's to reach.
Styles began with the basic "short back & sides", then progressed to the "neckline" and ended up with just asking for a "trim" as hair got longer towards the end of the 60's.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

CHURCH PUB #2 - ANGELS

Angels was Dundee's 2nd city centre church pub. It opened in the mid 80's and was located on the corner of Ward Road & Rattray Street. I remember it had a water feature above the bar and its constant trickling sound seemed to make you want to visit the loo more than usual!

You can see in the photo it had a rather grand entrance area.

There was also another part of it on the Rattray Street side (you can just make out the doorway) - a bar called, Heavens Above, which ironically, was downstairs in the basement!

CHURCH PUB #1 - CLOISTERS

This building on the corner of Meadowside and Bell Street, was Dundee's first church to be converted into a pub.
Sometime around the early 80's it opened as Cloisters.

The top photo shows the main doorway on Meadowside, which was directly opposite Foreigners.
The middle picture is a shot of the interior, which was taken from the raised floor area where bands sometimes used to play.
I recall seeing Altres play there in the mid 80's - complete with eye-catching slide show!
The pub interior was very spacious, with the bar plonked dead centre and despite how roomy it was, Fridays & Saturdays were still usually choc-a-block.
I remember they sold "venison burgers" and I jokingly commented to the bar staff that they were a bit too dear (deer!).
The third picture was the pub's other doorway situated in Bell Street.
Later around the mid 80's it changed its name to Gabriels, then in its final years became known as the Café Club Bar, until the place was destroyed by fire in June 1991.
The original building itself now no longer exists.
Viewing it again though after 3 decades, I reckon it could have made a perfect pub for Goths!
Below, is a tiny moment of footage showing how Meadowside looked in 1980 - church left, Foreigners (black frontage) right.

 

Exterior photos by DC Thomson.
Interior shot by The Bear.