A couple of weeks back I and writer Teddy Jamieson strolled the length of the King’s Road for his piece on the thoroughfare for the Herald Scotland.
It was fun, though sobering when we reflected that The Pheasantry – once a creative hub where Germaine Greer wrote The Female Eunuch and Eric Clapton shared a flat with Oz artist Martin Sharp – is a branch of Pizza Express while the site of The Chelsea Drugstore (scene of a Rolling Stones’ lyric and set for A Clockwork Orange record shop) has long been occupied by MacDonald’s.
We ended up having a bite at Mona Lisa, which is still the unpretentious caff of old. Back down the road The Picasso – where I interviewed such contributors to The Look as Richard Young – looks set to reopen with a 21st century refurb (though they have resurrected the famous neon sign). Wonder whether it will retain the character of yore?
You can read Teddy’s feature here.
Lloyd Johnson
March 16, 2011 at 8:44 pmHi! Paul..Just noticed on your blog ..The Chelsea Drugstore in The Stones’ song was down The World’s End…Hope all’s well..L&J…XXXXX
P.S. It bought back memories of the opening night of The Drugstore (now McDonalds) for me though….They were trying to emulate the Paris Drugstores in St.Germain & The Champs Elysse ( I know I’ve spelt that wrong) where the French Minets hung out..Hey Jude! had just been released and they played it all night…I think it was around 1969, lots of beautiful people there…I met a stunning Indian girl that night…
Paul Gorman Author
March 17, 2011 at 8:36 amThanks for the info Lloyd. Got some great pix of the King’s Road in 1976 coming up any minute…