A nostolgic Ride on Google Maps on the Route of the Nr. 45 bus from Linmeyer to Braamfontein

At one stage back when I was really young, I think the only route we had was on the Nr. 46 that went from the Hill into town on the old Trolley buses, I hated those buses as the back was always open and people could run and jump on the bus while it was moving.  I always had visions of falling off the bus.  And lets not mention them coming off the lines and the conductor having to try and put them back with a long pole. 

 Ah the bus - Our only means of transport growing up in the South of Johannesburg.

When my father bought our house in Linmeyer in 1964 one of the criteria was that it would be within walking distance to the bus stop and to the closest cafe. 

When I was a bit older, probably when I started high school I could catch the bus into Jo'burg city on my own, and then of course when I starte College in Eloff Street it would be every day that I caught the bus to and from College.   Before that it would have been to go to the movies, meeting a date, going ice-skating or to the teen disco's. 

The bus ride during College days was always fun, we would always sit upstairs - some of us smoking, I did not smoke in those days.   The bus was also the place to check out the guys, the year I started College a group of the guys from Marist Brothers started at Wits University and together with my "Girl" friends we used to have loads of banter and arguments with the guys, so much so I think we always disturbed the older folk on the bus.  But it was fun!  There were also days where we used to Bunk college and instead of getting off near College, we would get off way before and head down to the Movie house opposite the Carlton Center. 

I decided to go onto Google Maps and travel the route the Nr. 45 bus would take and the memories just came flooding back.  

College would start around 8:30 in the morning, so we would leave the house around 7:30 and get the 7:40 bus into town.   

The Route the bus would take started from the Bottom of Linmeyer  - It would leave from Elizabeth Street in Linmeyer and travel up Lena Street, past the Linmeyer Post Office and Hilltop Cafe.  

The Road then turned into Johan Meyer Street, where it would stop just near the Top Shops and the United Building Society where we would get on.   Normally Heather was already on the bus as she lived further down the road. 

All the shops at the Linmeyer shopping area have changed since then which was back in 1981, you had the Butcher on the corner on the right hand side going up, then Paulwin, the hairdresser, Vintage, the Green Grocer, the building Society and then Tommy's cafe - Now it is all different, I see McCoy's pub an electronic shop and a barber. 

Crossing over South Rand Road into The Hill, Linmeyer Gardens is on your right.  Had many friends who lived there growing up. 

The bus would travel down Plinlimon Road and then turn left into 3rd avenue and continue down past the Hill shops where my mom would go to the Hairdresser (cheaper than the one in Linmeyer ... lol) and on towards Rosettenville.   It would take a left into Drakensberg Road and then head up towards the shopping area of Rosettenville, past the Kine 606 Cinema on the left (Previously the Adelphi Bioscope) where we spent many Saturdays watching moves at the Kinekor Kiddies Club. 

Travelling down 3rd avenue, always reminds me of the Shebeens that were just off to the right around Grampian Road if my memory serves me correctly, they had a driveway where you would drive in on one road and then drive out onto another road, so basically like a drive through liquor store but of course it was illegal.  

The Kine 606 ... wow memories abound - Alan sent me some of his memories too!  There was a little restaurant next door where we would go for Milkshakes after movies.  But movies ... this is where I saw "Greece" for the first time, at the kiddies club they would have events before the movie, competitions where you could win prizes if you did things, like stand up and sing etc.  It was really popular and always packed! 

During School holidays we would go and watch the latest movie or old movies, I remember going with my dear friend Morag and her brother Craig to see "Mary Poppins" and there was an elderly lady sitting in front of us singing the songs on the top of her voice, we had to tell her to please be quiet, this coming from a 13 year old did not go down well.   Then her younger brother Craig who was utterly bored decided to crawl around the movie house under the seats and pop up at random areas and wave at us! (lol's) it was hysterical at the time. 

My dad sometimes would take us to see an old Western and fall asleep and then tell us what a good movie it was!  I hated Westerns in those days.

When the bus got to Rosettenville corner, where the Bata shoe shop used to be on the right handside and and of course I missed out on Uniwinkels where we got our school uniforms and just below in La Rochelle was Checkers where we did our weekly grocery shop, and the dentist was around there too.  

At the Corner the bus would turn right into Turf Road, the Turffontein Racecourse now on the left hand side (and if you read one of my other posts, this was the Johannesburg Concentration Camp during the ABW).  

From then on, the journey was pretty uneventful, as we were now going into more of an industrial area. 

Just before you got to the James Hall Museum the bus would take the left fork into La Rochelle road and past the Rand Stadium on your right.  Here was were there were a lot of sports events, Soccer, Tennis, Cycling, Squash etc.  I always remember the smell of Coffee beans being roasted when you got past the Squash courts, aparently there was a coffee factory somewhere there and they would employ people with special needs, quite a number getting on the 45 bus.  Once past there we got to the junction at Eloff street extension.

If you turned left at the intersection into Turffontein Road, back before the Carlton Ice-Rink was built was the Webley Ice-Rink, a great place for Friday nights or week-ends and the road would take you up towards Turffontein, Forest Hill Area. 

The bus would turn left at and this would become Eloff street extension which was quite industrial area,on the left hand side was the old Roadhouse - I seem to think it was the Wembley Roadhouse but I could be incorrect.   From there going under the Highway into Eloff street was really where "Town" started.   In the old days, the bus would only go as far as Van der Bijl Square which was the bus terminus for all buses (now called Ghandi Square). 

I am not sure when, but later the bus went all the way to Braamfontein and no longer stopped at van der bijl.   When I was at college I would get off the bus just past the OK bazaars, which I think was Prichard and Eloff street, and then walk to College which was in the African Life Building just before Jeppe Street.   I don't think I ever caught the bus into Braamfontein, so that was my journey on the Nr. 45 bus.

From this Journey today, I have got quite a few post ideas, but I would love to hear your memories too, so please send me your comments! 

From  '77 - '84, Jo'burg city was my playground - I never felt like I was in any danger, we would get the last bus home at night and sometimes had to walk from Hilbrow into town to get the bus.  In 1986 I moved to Randburg and then to Linbro Park, but briefly spent a year back in Linmeyer in 1988 working for Metro Cash & Carry in Ormonde, so often used to go to the pubs in the South - Tobries, The Stinking Rose, the days when Gino's opened in Robertsham and you would get wasted just waiting for a table.  Then in 1989 I moved back to Linbro Park and then Randburg and full circle back to Linmeyer in 1991 - I then married in '95 and moved to Bryanston where my husband was from, then bought our own house in Allensnek.

In 2001 we decided to go Travelling and working and landed up in Ireland and for various reasons never went back, even though we kept saying we are going back!  However Joburg will always be my home town.  (Even though I was born in Durban.) 

A nostalgic walk home from The Hill High school to Linmeyer with Google Maps

I love Google Maps, I was chatting to one of the ladies on the Hill High website and she was telling me where she lives, so I Googled it and then took a nostalgic walk through the South.  Probably a walk I have not done for many many years and will more than likely never do in real life again.

Hill High

If you have been on Google Maps you will know how you can walk by “mouse” through the streets in the map.   So I walked home from School (Hill High), stopping at all the houses where my friends lived to see what had changed.  I noticed that most of the houses that used to have open gardens, all had walls now with fences, but really nicely done so that you could still see the house, not like in some streets in the Northern Suburbs, where the houses had been built up with really high walls and electric fencing.  Although walking back now and I see there are a few with 8 foot walls and electric fencing.

So we (the mouse & I) walked up Plinlimon Road, passing house after house till we get to “Linmeyer Gardens” which does not seem to have visibly changed – I mostly always walked home from school on the left hand side of the road.  And then when we got to the end of Linmeyer Gardens we used to cross over onto the right hand side, by Quaggashoek Road, Stuart used to lived there from as far back as I can remember.

The Top Shops in Linmeyer

We would then either cross over the veld, or cross by the traffic light by the top shops, which also has some really good memories.  The guy who owned the shops was a Greek guy called Tommy, and yes he was one of those that Barry Hilton always talks about that never gave you your change if it was 1c or 2c or even in those days ½c, he would say take “chappies”, I’ve got no change.

Outside of the shops he had a Big Bubble Gum machine in the shape of a rocket; I guess it was big because we were so small.  David P ran off with the machine the one day, and Tommy ran after him, from that day forward the machine was always chained to the door or somewhere with a big lock.

Paraffin and the One Arm Bandit

The first gadget that Tommy had in his shops was a “one arm bandit” which now thinking about it was illegal in the 70’s, but then so much in that shop would have been illegal today.  So the “one arm bandit” cherry machine was moved into a room at the back of the shop, where they kept the big drum of paraffin.  The maid would send us up to the shop regularly to get a bottle of paraffin for the primus stove.  You had to take your own bottle and there was a pump where you would pump the paraffin into your bottle, I loved the smell – you can understand why kids become hooked on smells.  If we weren’t sent for paraffin, then it would be “10 Lexington” (cigarettes) and a box of matches.

My dad would send us to the shop to either get Tobacco, Cigarillo’s or Minerals (Ginger ale and the likes).  For mom it would be Bread & Milk or minerals.  The Café was the greatest thing as they would be open from early in the morning till about 7 or 8 p.m., all day Saturday and to start with only in the mornings on a Sunday, then Tommy would close for lunch on a Sunday and re-open later in the afternoon.

There was also a Café, come Fish & Chips shop on the right hand side of the road at the bottom.

Pin Ball Machines

To entice the youngsters to spend their money in his shop, Tommy got in some pinball machines.  They were put into the shop on the right hand side by the magazines.  If you wanted to meet boys, you knew they would more than likely be playing pinball, or if you wanted to show off you would play too, 10c a game.  I remember heading off to the shops on a Friday evening with Charlene, when we were supposed to be at Y.P. back in ’79 – ’80 when young girls could still walk around without any harm coming to them.   But this could lead into a whole other story.

So getting back to the walk

So if you walked down “Johan Meyer Street” which is where Tommy’s shop was situated on the right hand corner, I think he was number 1, you would pass the bus stop, next to the bus stop was the “United Building Society”, then the “Green Grocer”, Vintage (Mainly a stationary shop) he would order in our overseas magazines for us, my sister used to get “Jackie” from the UK and I would get “Tammy”.  Mr & Mrs Shaw were the owners.

Next door to “Vintage” was the hairdresser, Sandy’s mom always got her hair done there, then next door to that was “Paulwin” which was like an ornament shop but sold all kinds of stuff, bric-a-brac and then last but not least on the Corner was the butcher, loads of guys dressed in white coats and boots carrying dead animals (cows & sheep) into the shop and cutting them into the cuts of meat that people would then buy.  Often if you wanted a certain cut, they would go and fetch the whole sheep or cow from the back and cut it up in front of you.

From what I can see on Google Maps, the UBS is now a hairdresser, the green grocer a movie rental place and “vintage” is now the infamous “McCoys Pub”, I believe owned by “Sean Mc Coy” who went to Hill High and frequented by many old Hill High pupils, a few pool tables I would imagine in the shop that used to be the hairdresser.  “Paulwin” is a beauty salon and the butchers a bead place – but who knows whether that is still right today as you never know how old the Google satellite maps are.

Across the road from Tommy, the corner shop – I cannot remember what was there, but I remember when it became the Pizza shop, it was like the first Pizza shop in South Africa to me, it opened in about ’76.  You could either get take-away or eat in.  Next door was the Chemist, owned by the same guy for years and year until he died, and now I can’t remember his name, Jewish guy.   Carol used to have an account at the Chemist and because her mom & dad had got divorced and she stayed with her dad, he paid the account, so she would buy make up and all kinds of stuff.   And we will never forget the day that Morné asked me to go and by “Female Stuff” for his mom as he was too embarrassed, which of course I don’t blame him, which mother asks her 6 ft hunky son to go and buy her woman’s stuff.  If she ever wonders why he is now gay, well I guess that is just part of it.

Next door to the chemist was a dry-cleaners and then a small hardware or lock-smith and of course then the “Linmeyer Bakery”, which when you walked past you would get all the wonderful smells.  Freshly baked hot rolls, Biscuits, my favourite were petty-fours although the “La Rochelle Bakery” made much nicer ones.

I can’t remember what was in the next two shops before the “Golden Reef Café, fish & Chips shop”, but I remember when the Portuguese restaurant opened there in the late 70’s early 80’s.  Urban legend has it that in some fish & chips shops in South Africa, they never changed the oil used for frying the fish & chips, and then when clients kept getting sick, the police came in and made them drain the oil and they found a dead cat!  I see it is now called Zanzi Superette.

So continuing our Nostalgic walk through the streets of Linmeyer, there was another café at the bottom of Linmeyer in Elizabeth street, below the “Greenhill’s” flats that were owned by George’s dad, George was a guy in our class and I can’t remember what his surname was, he loved the girls, especially the blonde ones.   The Linmeyer post office was down there too, we would often go and fetch the post for my mom & dad, although the post was delivered to street addresses, so people would have a box address too, especially if you did not want people to know where you lived.

Going back to the Butcher and the Golden Reef Café, which were on alternate corners of Risi Avenue and Johan Meyer street, at the butchers you would turn right and walk up, originally back in the day there was an empty plot on the corner of Michael street and Risi Avenue, on which they built a temporary fire station, the fire station was linked to the main fire station in Turffontein, and during the week in winter they would send a team over to Linmeyer so they were closer to the hills where fires always broke out.  Incidentally it was used for Girl Guides on a Saturday, Y.P. on a Friday night somehow linked to the Rosettenville Baptist church and then on Sundays for Sunday school.

Across the road from the fire station were two empty plots of land separated by a street called “Post Street”.  When you turned left into Michael Street from Risi Avenue, we were the 2^nd house on the right hand side, although we were the first house in Michael Street as the one next door’s address was in Risi Avenue.   Our house was a modest 3 bed roomed, 1 bathroom house on a ¼ acre stand, what sold my dad on the house was the fact that it had a beautiful panorama window in the lounge which looked over the empty plot in front, and you had a view over the Linmeyer hills as far as Alberton.  Remember in those days there was no TV so I guess looking out the window was there TV.

Michael Street

After having moved out of Linmeyer for the final time when I got married in 1995, I never walked those streets again, even when visiting my mom.  I often used to think of buying the house from her and then renovating it to be how I wanted to look.  However when my sister finally convinced her to sell up in 1998, and move in with them – we had already bought so Linmeyer was no longer my home.   The Estate Agent who sold the house to relations of hers, got it for a song (all in cahoots with one another), and then basically changed the whole look of the house.  Because they had paid next to nothing for it, they had the money to put in a pool and do all kinds of renovations. *Feeling Sad*  My dad was in construction so had already done a number of alterations, adding a 4^th bedroom and an extra bathroom and utility room out the back.

I don’t know what changes they made to the inside or the back of the house, but from the front you can see that the panorama window was taken out and replaced with a big glass sliding door that leads down to the pool, however the beautiful view of the open veld is gone, you can no longer see down to the main road because a monstrosity of a town house complex “Silva Villas” has been built on the two plots of land, incorporating Post Street with it.  And then what looks like visitor parking for the complex, right opposite our old house.

What amazes me is how vividly clear the memories are of all the places and the houses.  Watch out for the next post on walking through the streets of Linmeyer. 

The Stander Gang

The Stander Gang were a gang who were on the run in the early 80's for Robbing a bank, and did they not rent a house in the street behind us and live there quite happily for a few months until the Cops caught up with them.

I even remember walking past the house they rented on many occasions and seeing the sports cars in the driveway, little did we know.

Here is the story:   http://www.africacrime-mystery.co.za/books/fsac/chp20.htm

André Stander

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André Stander
Born	André Charles Stander 22 November 1946 Gauteng, South Africa
Died	13 February 1984 (aged 37) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Known for	Bank robberies
Police career
Branch	South African Police
Department	Kempton Park CID
Service years	1963–1980
Rank	Captain

André Charles Stander (22 November 1946 – 13 February 1984) was a South African criminal and policeman. One of the most infamous bank robbers in South Africa's history, Stander was notorious for the audacious manner with which he carried out his crimes: he sometimes carried out the crime on his lunch break, often returning to the scene as an investigating officer.^[1]

Stander was portrayed by American actor Thomas Jane in the 2003 film Stander.

Police career[edit]

The son of a prominent figure in the South African Prison Service, Major General Frans Stander, André was under pressure from an early age to pursue a career in law enforcement. He enrolled at the South African Police training college near Pretoria in 1963, graduating at the top of his class. Shortly afterwards he joined the Kempton Park criminal investigation department.^[2]

Criminal activities[edit]

Robberies[edit]

Zonderwater prison

In 1977, Stander flew to Durban and robbed his first bank. Between 1977 and 1980, he is believed to have stolen nearly a hundred thousand rand.^[2]

After robbing nearly 30 banks, Stander was arrested and sentenced to 75 years in prison on 6 May 1980.^[1] However, since many of the charges in the sentence ran concurrently, he faced an actual sentence of 17 years.^[3] Stander met Allan Heyl and Lee McCall at the Zonderwater maximum security prison.^[1]

Motivation[edit]

After his first trial, Stander claimed that his disillusionment with police service stemmed from a prior incident when he and his fellow officers shot and killed over twenty unarmed black residents of Thembisa during the 1976 Soweto uprising. However, Stander was not present with the police contingent at Thembisa when the alleged shooting took place.^[2]

Other accounts have suggested that Stander, who completed his national service in Angola during the South African Border War, may have also been bored with civilian life and craved the excitement afforded by a life of crime.^[4]

Stander Gang[edit]

On 11 August 1983, Stander and McCall, along with five other inmates, were taken from its premises for a physiotherapy appointment. Once the prisoners were left alone with the physiotherapist, Stander and McCall overpowered her and escaped. The other prisoners refused to participate and stayed behind.^[5]

Stander and McCall returned to Zonderwater on 31 October 1983, in order to spring Allan Heyl from the facility where he was taking a trade test. From that day until the end of January 1984, the three began robbing banks together, under the nom de guerre of the Stander Gang – a term coined by the news media.

McCall was killed on 30 January 1984, in a police raid on the gang's hide-out in Houghton Estate, Gauteng. Heyl fled to Greece, then England, then Spain, and eventually back to England, where he was caught, tried, and sentenced to nine years in prison for robbery and a related firearms charge. After serving his time in the UK, he was extradited back to South Africa where he was sentenced to a further 33 years in prison. Heyl was released on parole on 18 May 2005.

While police were closing in on McCall in South Africa, Stander had been in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, trying to arrange for the sale of the gang's recently purchased sailing yacht—the Lilly Rose—that they planned to use for their final getaway once they had acquired enough money.

Florida and death[edit]

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While Stander remained in the United States, international arrest warrants and all points bulletins were issued for his arrest. Trying to make the best of the situation, Stander created the false identity of an Australian author named "Peter Harris" and forged a driver's license. Afterwards, he visited a used car lot and purchased a Ford Mustang from a dealer named Anthony Tomasello. On 10 February 1984, police pulled Stander over while he was driving and arrested him for driving an unregistered vehicle. Being relatively unknown to the American authorities at that time, Stander presented his false ID to the police, who recognized it as a forgery and subsequently seized it—adding driver's license forgery to his list of offenses—but believed his story about his identity and released him.

Once released on the same evening, Stander returned to the police impound lot where his seized Mustang was being kept, broke in and stole the car. On the following morning, Stander returned to the same used car lot where he had purchased the vehicle and asked the same dealer, Tomasello, to have the car re-painted in a different colour. However, Tomasello had just read about the Stander Gang in a local newspaper. He told Stander that he would help him, got his information, and as soon as Stander had left, Tomasello called his lawyer. On his lawyer's advice, Tomasello called the local police.^[2]

Based on Tomasello's information, a police tactical unit surrounded the apartment that Stander had been using as a hideout, but Stander was not there. He had acquired a bicycle to use while his car was with Tomasello to be repainted. He had left the apartment on the bicycle and returned only after the police had surrounded it. As he unknowingly rode up to the apartment complex, officer Michael van Stetina—who had been posted on the perimeter—recognised Stander and attempted to stop him.

Stander tried to get away, but as Stetina prevented his escape a struggle for the officer's shotgun began. The gun discharged and Stander was hit; he fell onto the apartment complex's driveway, bleeding profusely. Stetina immediately radioed for an ambulance. Although officer Stetina tried to administer first aid, Stander's wounds were too extensive and he bled to death before an ambulance arrived.^[2]