My hostel, Salesians, was situated on Greenpoint main road, right on the edge of the CBD of Cape Town. I knew the city at night very well. Best bars, which pubs to avoid, and what streets not to walk down..... I also knew in those years that the only after hours Cafe that you could get any take aways was a place called Cafe Cadiz, a portuguese establishment of the highest calibre....
One night, a group of Oranjemunders were together after a Birthday party, we were driving in a convoy af 4 cars, including a SC beachbuggy, We were all hungry and i was leading the gang to Cafe Cadiz for a late late night snack.
I warned my fellow Oranjemunders, " when we get there, just go in , order , pay, don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone.... this is a rough place at this time of night!", I repeated myself, "there are dangerous people here, just get in and get out.... Are you listening?"
Well our drunken convoy of SC cars pulled up outside the grimey, littered cafe.... we all disembarked, "stay together!, Watch your back", I urged....
And lo and behold, true to my word, there was hostilities afoot inside that cafe..... One thug was kicking the Arcade machine senseless, due to the fact that it had stolen his money, his partner in crime had the poor Cafe owner, half dragged across the dirty counter, threatening him. The place looked a clip out of a "Dirty Harry" movie, thugs and vandals..... What was even more incredible, we all knew thos etwo thugs as Stephen Hockney and Greig Gerstner, ........ My thugs were only Oranjemunders in Cape Town....
Sigh! So much for feeling threatened!
:-\
Hmmm - I remember that night.
Mike - That story also reminds me of the time we were strolling around at the top of Loop street one night in CT, I think there were four of us and you kept on warning us about the dangers of being in this part of town at this hour and how we need to be careful etc. I remember that you had us in such a state of paranoia that we ended up huddled together like a bunch of white mice in a snake pit.
I also remember that the street was basically deserted, when out of the gloom we spotted a shady character heading towards us with a purpose.
I recall a feeling of absolute panic gripped our little group as we eyed this potential mugger/murderer/serial killer suspisciously (bearing in mind that the odds were in our favour - four guys against one - but we had taken into account the panga blade and/or chainsaw this other guy was carrying). By the time the dark figure had reached us, the 'fight or flight' lever had been pressed firmly to the 'flight' side. It was then that the mysterious stranger called out in a blood curdling voice:
'Howsit okes!'
Resisting the urge to bolt screaming into the night, we peered closely at the person in front of us, who turned out to be none other than Andre Lankhaar out looking for party. ;D
Ja... I think Mikes the paranoid one... I question whether he's ever seen anything really dangerous in his whole life... I mean, what's this guys benchmark for danger????
Right You! Who said that? Did you hear that? They're coming for me again........! :-X
I'm proud to say that I ate a lamb 'rotie' from Cadiz at 4 am in the 80'ies and lived to tell the tale....no salmonella!....Yep, every piece of 'meat' still had a purple stamp on it but at that time of the morning, hung over...who cares.
The bloke who ran it at night....looked like one of the ZZ Top band members....yellow nicotine stained beard and fingers....yep he was a wierd one.
Hi Stephan,
I too remember stopping at Cadiz for a bite on the way home from either London town pub or club 604 or the Prince of Wales. Does anyone remember the "Spanish Gardens" in southern suburbs, I think it was off main road in Newlands? This is going back a bit!
Yvette
Wow, Prince of Wales, now there was a club I liked..... Remember the glass dancefloor....?
Club 604, was awesome also, ontop of the Heerengracht..... man those were the days... Across the road from my hostel was Trammps!
Man I miss those days....
And Naughtys in Rondebosch.......
8)
Hi, Yvette!
Yep, even I sneaked into 604 once...Reeters/Rita's....ex Catacombs...an old haunt of mine...now I'm giving away my age. Remember 'Cats' ? Went to the 'Wine Barrel' once....never again! Got the shock of my life....yep saw some strange men there!
Here I am, 20 years later with the same woman (wife) I tried to impress with my somewhat spastic dancing at 'After Hours' ex Prince of Wales.....time flies...
Ha, Stephen we also went into the wine barrel one night, seeing that it was the 2nd closest pub to our hostel after the Firemans arms, yep got a fright, seeing we was all young lads looking for young ladies in those days,,, should have called it the Blue Oyster! heheheh, actually was'nt a bad pub, if you hhad an open mind and a girl on your arm.......
The Tudor hotel on Greemarket was another favorite haunt of mine, actually one of the best in it's days, manager was a chap called martin, lekker atmosphere!.... Man, whats the name of that bar on your way up to the gardens? the oldest pub in CT, something tavern?
???
Yes Stephan, Rita's was also something. Cats, mmm, bit dicey! As for the Wine Barrel (you wouldve had to watch your back!) I have an idea I met your wife working at Debmarine in the early 90's?? Help, cant remember her name.
Yvette
Michael....Pickwick Tavern!......eventually turned into a gay pup i think.
Let's not forget Charlie Parker's and that one below the Holiday Inn in Sea Point...Pasha's?
Yvette.....so It is you!....yep, I'm here in Holland with Brenda...now you remember!
Pickwick Tavern, thats the Tavern on the 2nd floor? In town.... I think, The oub I;m thinking of ..is up the road passed Caledon square, heading up to the gardens centre on your left..... Oh ...Nobody mentioned the Crow Bar, with The Fish and chip shop next door, Capt Doreigo's.... or Lusitania Fisheries....
???
Yes of course. Hi Brenda, how r u? Do you remember Colleen, in Geology? Crazy character. Cant believe you guys are in Holland. Has the family extended since you left? On the subject of old jols, do you people remember the old Pig 'n Whistle and Abigail's?
Yvette
Went to the pig, got trashed in the yard outside, and Abigails was also on the 2nd floor on Rondebosch main road, the only problem going to these places, is i was always Dronk, only have vague memories.....The Helderberg Tavern with Josh Sithole was another of my late 80's places.......
;D
I was just about to sign out. but omg have to comment on the Helderberg, Josh Sithole is a legend!!!! We would end up there on Saturdays for a pub lunch. the food was excellent! Eisbein, sour krout and hot eng mustard! I wonder where Josh Sithole is in the world? We used to follow him around CT. I remember him playing at the De Waal Hotel at one time. And down that way was Obs too. Those were the days. It was absolutely no problem to be in Sea Point for a jol and jump in the car head onto de waal drive and head for the Southern suburbs to the next jol. Holiday Inn, Newlands included here. Cant believe we were so wild! Kids dont follow my example!!!!! Go to bed.
Yvette
Hi, Yvette..yep Brenda still has contact with Colleen and Sharon Brassem (Acutt).
I still remember your multi-coloured doves!!!
Michael....I thought he Pickwick was downstairs below street level along St Georges's street.....could be wrong. When I went to the Pig...once, i had to get the last train back...some old fart tried to cop a feel of one of the guys in our group in the subway, so he got a kick in the nuts and ran off screaming like a girl.....Ha, Ha!
Heheheh, We did that as well, Followed Josh to the De Waal Hotel, He played at the Heidelberg on Fridays and Saturday's and Wednesdays at De Waal...
Our School Bar was Basin Street at Claridges Hotel in Greenpoint. Back in the 80's Factory used to play there... Man that was a nice bar also.....Pool if you really got trashed...... and a cafe next door ... R10.00 got you eight beers, 2 pkts Niknaks and 3 arcade games on 1942....
;D
The name of the bar was bothering me, so i googled it...It is Perseverance Tavern...Tadadadadadaaa!
Percy's
;)
Yep....well done...Percy's!!! Remember the 'George'??? Now that place used to rock... always too many people....chicks (including my wife!) dancing on the bar counter.....
The George was across the road from the Crow Bar, narrow pub, drunk girls always topless on the counter, we used to wander from pub to pub... Man I should have been studying, and was drinkin...... no wonder that I'm just a humble Shopkeeper these days..... :-\
Stephan, please ask Brenda for email ad for Colleen.
Yes, my Dad did some crazy things with his spare time one of them was food colouring his white fan tail pigeons. He was a bird man (wing and feather species) They would fly around like that until the colouring washed out and then he would do it all over again. Pink, Blue, green, yellow. It was hilarious! He also had an aviary in the garden. Among the birdy types in Omund, if you had this red coloured canary you were considered IT! They were very rare. My Dad would use a red colouring in their feed and VOILA, red canaries! He used to exchange his reds for the real macoy. Uncle Jood Joubert and my dad got up to many tricks.
On the subject of pubs, do you guys remember the real dive in CT somewhere. You went up some stairs. It always stank real bad and there were loads of pool tables up there. plenty bikers used to hang around too?
Yvette that would be the StagsHead
!
;)
Yep thats it. My husband actually had the cheek to take me there on our first date. Needless to say we got married! Man that was a dive.
I see Richard Gerstner is on. How r u Richard, care to comment on any CT jols you frequented!
Yvette
Here's Colleen's address Colleen.Sayers@engenoil.com
Yvette....sorry, I wouldn't know. I'm not partial to 'biker chicks' so I wouldn't have gone to such a place of ill repute.. ;D
Any of you ever go to the German Schule whent hey have their Octoberfest, now theres a party.....thats where I learned to drink Jagermeister...... ;)
Well done...Stag's Head. I lived up the road from there (Hope Street) That pub was frequented by a monsterous biker-dude with arms the thickness of my legs. Yvette, I think the smell came from him... :D
I've never learnt to drink Jagermeister...it still gets the better of me.....I should practice more, me thinks
How many of you had the chance to catch a dop at that bar in the Railway Station, not by the local lines area, but up towards where the SAA office were. We used to pile in there whilst we were waiting for the bus to take us to the airport for our flight home to Omund. It was Chris Jones and Colin Richards who taught me where that little government pub was.... Oh and how to discard your school uniform in the bogs...
hehehehe, man the memories.... ;D
Yep..I remember that pub....and the station bogs!.....One of the few places where one could buy condoms!....
Who remembers....the 'Roxy'......the only tea-room cinema where smoking was almost compulsory. Cheapest tickets for 3 movies. Even the cockroaches got lung cancer there!....great burgers though!
Stephen, now you're talking... The Roxy... you paid like R2,00 go inside and never have to leave...they had the little table infront of you to put your chow on, the cigarette smoke was thick, there were rats and cockcroaches... One day I went to school and outta 18 pupils only 2 of us (hostel boys) turned up, the principal went beserk and eventually heard that the guys might be at the Roxy... he stormed off there, got the lights turned on, thats when the guys saw the real Roxy, and caught the 15 pupils, none of them knew that each other were in there....it was a good place to bunk out to... you could even drink in there and nobody gave a hoot!
;)
Thanks Brenda.
Stephan, thats the sad part, I'm wasnt even a biker chick, my husband was into pool!! and it was cheap! The Roxy burgers were the best and the smoking was even better.
Yvette
Stephen , did'nt you goto CBC in Kimberley?
???
That place is sooo old, even my mother went there as a teenager!..and she's 65.
She even went to 'Reeters' or Catacombs as it was know as in 'those' days.
Nope..CBC was for girls ;D...I went to Kimberley Boy's High for 9 and 10 but to Franschhoek for 6 to 8, so I frequented Cape Town aplenty in the 80ies...
mmm interesting Stephan, did you know Mr and Mrs Steele??? Mr Botha??
Yvette
Yes
how about Mr Matthews, Mr Weideman? All colleagues of mine now.
Yvette
Mr Weideman.....metalwork teacher???....Still there?
Still there, nickname is turtle or tortoise. Weirdo!
Yvette
Yvette....are you working at Kimberley Boy's High?.....if so....I hope you don't charge interest on late library books. ???
Hey, Michael...you may like to know....we even play rugby here in Holland!...yep about 4500 members of which about 2000 play. Quite a few girl's teams too! Sometimes we play against one or 2 in the apposing teams.
I think Holland ranks about 30 to 33 in the world, so ja, Namibia would whip their butts....check out www.thesmugglers.nl if you want to.
No Stephan, couldnt even do that if I wanted to. The boys charge me now!!!
Seriously, you would not believe the school if you saw it now. Same building, lots of same old teachers. But the atmosphere is not what it used to be. Boys High couldnt even Klap CBC at founders anymore, even if they tried! Soccer has taken over as "thee sport". Much to the Old Boys' dissappointment. One last question before I hand the computer over to Rian. Do you remember if there were any girls from Omund in Girls' High when you were here??
Yvette
Yvette..
Now that's a tough one....Omund. girls in Kimberley Girl's High.....sorry. Can't remember. Nope. Send me a pic. of the '85 class if you can. Pleez? There might even be an old year book or something. Ta. & good night.
Yvette
Spanish Gardens Down a little alleyway in a enclosed courtyard, where you could drink irish coffee and red wine all night served by an old man in a darkened room with parrafin lamps. Great place, replaced by a coffee bar in Claremont, can't remember the name, then followed by a plek in Kalkbaai, on the harbour.
Yvette,
Josh Sithole died about 3 years ago of a heart attack; as you say he was a legend in Cape Town.
Cherry
Sad to hear about Josh, a legend, you're right...I always felt sorry for the guy, a struggling black musician I thought, but his son went to a private school and he had the latest BMW parked outside... ;D Good Old Josh!
Sara Lane, went to Kimberley Girls, in the 80's sometime.... she's registered in here!
HERE COMES THE WEEKEND by ROXETTE!, Will Mike be Drinking this weekend?
???
Cadiz still exists. They made the meanest Cheese Burgers, especially at 4:00 in the mornings. All the other pubs mentioned - sorry no more. Use to be grate places to "kuier" in. Prince of Whales on Thursday evenings - Ladies night. There I constantly took the beer drinking competition to a higher lever. My record 2.35 seconds. Pea Bodies - Teusday Evenigs - Dancing competitions - took many prizes there shaking my tush. O Boy. Hier kom my skandes nou uit. Swaers julle moet maar julle ore toedruk. Who remembers Brendans Bar and Sound Wave? Any takers.
Oh my gosh,another down downer. A Great Sport. Back in 1974 my record was exactly 2 seconds.A favourate passtime at hockey,still got a photo from the newsletter of me downing a beer with "Zandie". V.O.B. would present their champ with a tie,being a girl (all of about 17) I got a special garter presented to me.So there we go, my claim to fame. BierSuip
What about the "SHOTGUN", where you took n blik (tin) beer, pierced it, held it up to your mouth and then opened it.....
:emot182:
No good it just spurted up and out my nose !!!
what a waste.
My father had one of those glass boots that you had to down beer out of...and if you did'nt know the trick.... then you would have beer all over your face...... slurp!
BierSuip
We also drank out of one of those glass things,a long thinish tube with a bubble type thing on the end.Also an art trust me :birra2:
In Germany we have something called "Saufmachine". BierSuip Sauf is a dirty word for drinking. Each particapent has a thin hose. All hoses bundle in one hose going to the beer. You do this in teams. The fastest team wins. It takes you only a few seconds to drink a liter. Do this often enough and you're ... :wow1: :culo1: :caldo1: :emot77:
Me thinks Sauf could mean Suip in Afrikaans
idontknow
It's the easiyest way of ending a party.
BierSuip :buffo1:
discodance Those glass boots had a trick not to spill. You turn the boot that the toe points down, not up, and then you drink. The glass tube was popular at Prince charles. We drank the beer down downs out of those. Not easy. No one could beat me with beer down downs. O Boy, could the men get upset when a women kicked their a.... They were bad sportsmen when it came to this game. boobs boobs.
lolzzzz very funny story boet, i remember that night very well what good times they were!!!!!!
3_8_14
Hahahha... you took your time reading though....... I guess the SPortsmans got too boring for you and Greg!
BierSuip