Guyanese Online

OLD GEORGETOWN, British Guiana

Note: These pictures were submitted by a subscriber. We do not know who wrote the comments… they know old cars. Must bring back memories for the “old folks”.

Photo#1

• I observe the cars of the day- Morris Minor, Austin Cambridge, Morris Oxford, Hillman Minx.
• I note the Bookers Sports Dept Store to the left and opposite it…….Bettencourt’s. Stabroek Market’s clock tower in the background.
• To the left as well seems to be a cyclist dressed in the uniform of a then Bookers Store guard

Photo #2

• Two of the blue Bedford buses which plied the East Bank Demerara route

Photo #3

• Princess Yasmin-this one plied the East Coast Demerara corridor. Note the wooden tray on the roof of the bus on which are written the words: “Cane Grove & Mahaica Express”. This tray was used for transporting the “load” of the passengers
• To the left of the picture, the north eastern section of the Marine Wing of the British Guiana Police Force building is barely visible.
• These buses are parked in an area that was known as “Donkey City”; so named because it was the assembly point of dray and donkey carts which were hired for transportation of goods and building material around the city

Photo #4

• Note the prominence of the bicycle which is in stark contrast to the present day vehicular congestion which is a feature of life around that Fogarty’s, Robb and Water Street junction.
• I think the shirt and tie are back now.

Photo #5

• Wow! A carrier bike on which grocery and baker shop bread deliveries were made..wow!
• A suspended street lamp hanging in the centre of the Camp and Regent Street intersection,  no longer a feature of the landscape of the city.
• Yong Hing’s supermarket (among the first in GT of the late 1950’s) and on the opposite side(not evident in the picture.) was Kwang Hing’s supermarket
• I detect a Bedford van and the back of  a Vauxhall Cresta car- for which Central Garage on High Street was the sole distributor.
• Remember those straw hats.
• The Vauxhall is in the intersection on the amber light. I wonder if he got a ticket from the traffic camera.

Photo #6

• HC 300- a Ford Zephyr car (or Zodiac-can’t be sure) being driven south along Water Street, west of the Legislative  or National Assembly (now Parliament Building). The Fords were sold by Geddes Grant on Main Street..that was where the Courts store now is.

Photo #7

• Camp and Murray Streets (now Quamina) intersection
• Yes……the ubiquitous donkey (as opposed to dray) cart of the day
• When I looked up to the top right section of the picture, I see a fluorescent type street light fitting (as opposed to the incandescent bulbs) that was a peculiar feature of the street lighting along Camp Street in those days.

Photo #8

• A beautiful panoramic view of Bookers Stores (now Guyana Stores) …. reportedly then the largest in the Caribbean
• Note that then there was no top flat above the east wing
• Look at the lower right section of picture. A blue and grey Vauxhall Wyvern or Cresta (can’t be sure) and a red Ford Prefect. The one time Principal of Central High School, B. Adams,  drove one of those Vauxhall’s
• There was then no enclosure of the lawn west of the museum.
• note the KLM (Dutch airline) sign in the upper left side of picture on  what was then the Sandbach Parker building.

Also view the source of these pictures …. plus others.. featured in an earlier blog entry on Guyanese Online.  Click link below:

Guyana: British Guiana 1959 to 1961- with 2009 updates – photos