Sacha's singles Club

I just thought of another one, so I never learnt to drive until I was 21 or so but my friend C was driving from 16 and working.   She would always pick me up and take me out to clubs and places and that is how I got into clubbing.

It must have been around '82 that we went to a new club she had heard about in the Hyde Park Shopping center.  It was a very sophisticated nightclub and we really just went there to dance and to meet guys who would pay for our drinks.  Because it was on the northside of town it was also very Larney and Posh.

I don't remember why they had it in the shopping center, if anyone does please let me know!   But I do remember that they would always play the latest music, they had the greatest disco lights.  But the songs will always be with me, like "Can't take my eyes off you", Yazoo, Softcell, John Cougar, Chicago and just so many great songs.

They did eventually move out of Hyde Park Shopping Center, over to the Hyde Park Hotel and then later Sacha's became Blue Jeans and I think it all just went downhill from then on.  Probably around 1983.

I can't even find a photo on Google, could you imagine if we had mobile phones with cameras on in the 80's and 90's there would be so many memories we could share!

If my memory serves me correct, it did look a little like this:

Ciro's Supper Club - Downtown Johannesburg

Who remembers "Ciro's" Supper Club?  If I remember it was downtown Johannesburg in Claim street??? In all honesty I have never been there, however the ex used to frequent the place as they had strip shows at lunch time, and the apartments we lived in, in Randburg housed a few strippers as well.

I heard it was very tasteful, but then really how tasteful can strippers be?  The reason it came to mind was because someone posted a picture of Ciro's on Facebook and the name rung a bell.   From what I can gather it was a nightclub in the good old days, the time I remember it would have been round the early to Mid 80's, but it was around for a very long time before that.

Does anyone have any memories? photos?

I just tried to do a Google Maps walk down Claim street and everything looks so foreign to me, like the place has never been taken care of, the buildings look so derelict and the streets so dirty, it just feels like another world where I never lived, and yet I lived in Jo'burg for 37 years.



Both my mom and dad lived in Johannesburg before they got married, in separate places of course, and I know when they married, the stayed in Fortesque Road, just round the corner from Rocky street in Melville, Johannesburg.  They moved out of Johannesburg to the suburbs shortly after my mom was pregnant with my sister and then resided in Mondeor, which would have been 1957 / 1958.

I remember often on a Saturday my mom would take us to visit her friends that all still lived in apartments around town, some in residential hotels in Hilbrow.  I also remember my mom talking about going out to beautiful nightclubs, restaurants and theaters.  The Colleseum, His Majesties, wow how grand everything was back then. 

The James Hall Museum of Transport, Wemmer Pan, Johannesburg South

When we were growing up, I remember my mom always taking us to places of interest on the week-ends, if it wasn't the art gallery in Joubert Park, it was to the transport museum in Pioneer Park Wemmer Pan.

I used to love going and seeing all the old cars and buses it really was one of my favourite outings.

You can visit the website here, and you can even do a Virtual tour.

It's well worth a visit next time you venture to the South of Jo'burg!