Galeries Lafayette, Regent St, London (early-mid 1900s)

[JenB]

Proof positive! Take a look at this.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/711206

[kob3203]

Apparently it was caught on film in 1924 - "London's Contrasts", shown last year on the South Bank I think?
Check here http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1344569/index.html and click on the "Show Full Synopsis" link in the middle of the page.
If you're in "...registered UK schools, colleges, universities and libraries..." (that rules me out then!) you can view the 12 minute movie online for free.
Pete

[JenB]

Do any of the older Londoners on this board remember the place (it was still around in the 1960's I believe), or know anything about it?

Well, I think we have partly answered your question, and hopefully you've found the information of some interest.

Jennifer

[kob3203]

Thanks Jennifer and Gadget,

I can assure you that the information you've provided is most definitely of interest to me.

Apologies if my previous post may have given any other impression - I started typing it after seeing your post of 08:54:56, but got sidetracked.

I've only just noticed that you'd already added a couple more posts before I finished typing

That photo you linked to is marvellous - it's exactly what I've been after.

Thanks again,
Pete

[kob3203]

I'm intrigued by your recollections that Galeries Lafayette was closer to Piccadilly Circus than Oxford Circus - because memory doesn't usually play the same trick on two different people...

So I'm thinking that I may well have overlooked something - perhap Galeries Lafayette moved in the mid/late 1960s?

If this turns out to be the case, then I may have been looking in completely the wrong area for my great grandfather's birth.

Any thoughts?
Pete

[Gadget]

I think my first big shopping spree to GLaF was in about 1964-5 (big student grants in those day  ) and, given the photo that Jennifer found does show the view down to Piccadilly Circus, it must have been not that far from the Regent Street curve.

Many of the shops on that side of the street were quite large, so their addresses would take up a whole lot of numbers.

I can still smell the wonderful perfumes 


Gadget

[Anita9659]

You might be interested to know that Galeries Lafayette appears in the 1963 British film "Live it Up!" Very fleetingly, about ten minutes before the end.

[kob3203]

Thank you Anita9659 - I just did a search online for references to the film and found a website called www.reelstreets.com which matches up film locations with real locations.

And they actually have the picture of Galeries Lafayette from the film - bottom right picture on this page

http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php/component/films/?task=view&id=2216&film_ref=live_it_up&start=10

Caption to the photo - "The taxi passes Galeries Lafayette on Regent Street, London W1. The French department store traded on the street for 52 years from 1920. The site is now occupied by Hamleys."

Mouse over the picture and you get a 'now' shot of Hamleys.

So that all seems to fit together nicely with what we have so far.   

Thanks again,
Peter

I also found a few more pictures that seem (from the captions) to indicate that it was next to Liberty & Co,although I can't make out Galeries Lafayette on either photo!

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-regent-street-london-1970-the-street-deorated-with-national-flags-32784822.html     - "Regent Street London 1970 . The Street Decorated With National Flags... Galeries Lafayette Store. Liberty & Co. Jaeger."

http://www.pickmix.co.uk/199844840-bw-print-colin-tait     - "Liberty’s department store and the Galeries Lafayette are on left hand side of the road"

[carol8353]

I bought a gorgeous dress from there and some ladies underwear 


I think it was on the curve of Regent Street - on the East side towards the bottom end. 

Gadget

Ladies underwear- bottom end 

That did make me laugh!!!

Carol