Fond memories of old Hanover Street

AS A YOUNG sales representative about 60 years ago, I often worked in the Hanover Street area and knew it well.

The three-quarter pants gangs on the corner who called me whitey (with no aggression), the old Muslim shopkeepers wearing their distinctive fez with tassles, and the fish market where I bought freshly caught fish and my favourite, snoek roe.

There was also at least one top-class restaurant, frequented by many whites (including me).

Many years later, on holiday in New Orleans, I was reminded of Hanover Street. The old buildings with balconies, happy people laughing in the streets, and jazz music wherever you went.

In San Francisco there is a huge fish market, a great attraction frequented by visitors and locals. Why do we not have one here in Cape Town, like the old Hanover Street fish market? Long Street has restructured itself very successfully; why not Hanover Street with façades of the old buildings? It would be another great attraction for tourists and locals.

Descendants of previously evicted families could be given preference, both in respect of accommodation and jobs. Let us rebuild, not destroy, the past.

I envisage an overhead railway carrying visitors from the Waterfront, stopping at the Castle, Hanover Street, lower cable station, Signal Hill, then back to the Waterfront.