Then & Now: Durban’s Marine Parade

THE picture of old Durban this week is from a postcard on the Facebook page, Durban Down Memory Lane, and features the Marine Parade looking south from the intersection of Old Fort Road.

It was probably taken before or during World War II, but after 1935 when the city’s first electric trolley buses were put in to service on the Marine Parade route.

Only one of the original buildings in the postcard remains today.

On the left, but not in the postcard, were two Durban institutions – the Cuban Hat and The Nest.

Photographer Shelley Kjonstad’s picture today shows a very different high-rise beachfront.

On the corner is Windermere, followed by Malington and the Marine Sands, which replaced Hampton Court, and was built by the Lipinski family in 1970.

The art deco building Beachhurst still survives today.

Further along is The Palace hotel which replaced The Empress Hotel in 1984.

The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it.

Readers sending pictures digitally – images should be about 1MB – can address them, with the relevant information, to satmail@inl.co.za.

If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.