audio-talk

andrew Ivimey wrote: ↑Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:04 am Proops, Lasky's, GW Smith's and more - wonderful! Then the Wi-Fi shops began...

Yup - that was TCR, Edgware Road had Henry's, Technomatic & H. L. Smith & Co. plus the fabulous Modern Book Co. in Praed St.

I'd forgotten about Praed St !

...another country...

andrew Ivimey wrote: ↑Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:50 am I'd forgotten about Praed St !

...another country...

...another world...

Apart from the well-known hospital & the discovery of Penicillin (and Heroin), Praed Street had an interesting corner shop (I used to live very near there) - as a teenager I remember reading the small ads in the window - the area had a lot of "professional ladies of the night".

My favorite just had a 'phone number and the words "Seats Upholstered in Leather & Cane". I always wondered about that one...

andrew Ivimey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:24 pm The little shop though with the electronics junk, aha!

In Dirtfud we had 'Filmers' for RS bits and random stuff which was directly opposite 'A.M. Pyne', the music shop owned and ran by Alan Pyne of Vox fame. He 'employed' me as a helper occasionally which as handy as my College was just round the corner.

Bestest was Garland Bros of Deptford IME (in my era).

Garland's- lasted me through (Goldsmiths') college days through to at least 25. It has disappeared like Gillotts across the road and Tannoy in West Norwood. Hmmmmmm we could go on and on and.

Spose '...Cane and leather...' is a clue! In my teens I was 'propositioned' in the Wardour st end of Old Compton St. - made me feel all funny inside and not a little nervous. I responded with a healthy 'Goodness gracious me. I think not young madam! ' not.

a tad trixy to unravel that sentence Andrew....

was that a double negative you used there......

could have been a rash move
swidt

Ooooofff! Deliberately ambiguous to preserve the mystery.

Think I might have found the house that had the bottles in the upstairs window - in Hamlet Court Road - what I remember is walking along the pavement (in the dark) and this house would be directly in front of me, well it would look like that because the road does a sharp S bend right then left, and this house is right on the first righthand corner. Was difficult to identify now because of two big trees in the garden that weren't there 40 years ago, but which now completely obscure the house from that approach. I've looked in adjacent streets and there's nothing else that can be made to look remotely like it. The house has likely had new windows too, I remember one large window whereas now there are two adjacent narrow windows with a mullion in between. I could be mistaken of course.

andrew Ivimey wrote: ↑Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:43 am Spose '...Cane and leather...' is a clue! In my teens I was 'propositioned' in the Wardour st end of Old Compton St. - made me feel all funny inside and not a little nervous. I responded with a healthy 'Goodness gracious me. I think not young madam! ' not.

Used to buy fags from Coleman Cohen in Old Compton St. Where you were propositioned might have been outside Act One, Scene One which was an interesting place frequented by even more interesting people. Coffee was 3d, Oscar and Ina had a handbag factory around the corner and I once shared a table with David Jacobs who was big into Juke Box Jury at the time. Prince Monalulu - "I gotta horse!" - was shouting the odds in Frith St (violin lessons upstairs) and there was a nut case who used to walk around with a water tap stuck on his forehead with a suction cup and sprayed passers by with rose water. Sometimes I ate a sandwich in the bomb-ruined churchyard in Wardour Street. The organist there (not in my time!) had been a friend of Bach and for whom he wrote the glorious St. Anne fugue - played it this morning. The Chinese grub at Ley On's was excellent and Newman Street was nearby, always a good source of bits and pieces for amplifiers etc. Of course, this was years before Soho was gentrified into the silly Chinatown.

London was a fascinating place before it went totally feral.

Aha! Was Newman street off Charing Cross Road and behind the Odeon on Leicester Square. There were a couple of junky esurplus electronics shops and Chinese restaurants in my day. At the Wardour St end in the 1980s there was a really good,steamy Vietnamese restaurant where the waitress was notoriously bad tempered.

Baggy Trousers wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:23 am The Chinese grub at Ley On's was excellent and Newman Street was nearby, always a good source of bits and pieces for amplifiers etc. Of course, this was years before Soho was gentrified into the silly Chinatown.

London was a fascinating place before it went totally feral.

ha, Baggo, this just reminded me of Lee ho Fook's
nice stroll down memory lane...

I have a few, like my first real off the shelf hifi came from Lindair..it was a pair of celestion county and a sansui au101. s'funny how we remember stuff like that..I probably remember because I carted the whole lot back to Hitchin on tube and train....a major ordeal.

I also roomed in a Hotel round the corner in Gower Street in the early 80s during my first spell at Westminster....happy days

Is there anybody out there?
Discuss

Ant wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:15 pm Is there anybody out there?
Discuss

Aliens ?

For Baggo and MrI....

Buns for sale!

I'm young!

I'm fresh and hot!

I need the money!

Selling my 'wares' on Old Compton Street today,