REWRITTEN REPOST: HERE'S JOHNNY'S...

Once upon a time, in a mystical, faraway land called 'The Past',
there existed a magical place of wonder called JOHNNY'S.  Nothing
to do with anything you got in the barber's 'for the weekend', I assure
you, but rather a shop in Gallowflat Street in Rutherglen, Scotland.

My grandparents (who I irreverently referred to as 'Grunt' and
'Grumpy' - shame on me) lived in Rutherglen in the early '60s, and it
was our well-established custom to visit them every Sunday.  We had
to pass through Gallowflat Street en route to their house in Hamilton
Road, and we invariably stopped outside Johnny's on the way.

Johnny's was a news-

agents, confectioners,

tobacconists - and, as well
as other sundry items that
such shops always stock, also
sold toys.  Oh, what treasures
teased, tempted and tortured
both my brother and myself
from within that toy and
trinket-bedecked window
display.  It was there (around
1963 or '64) that I first saw
an AURORA PHANTOM
Of The OPERA model

kit, built and painted in
all its blood-curdling,
gruesome glory.

I well remember being fascinated by the desperate prisoner staring out
pleadingly from behind the bars of a basement window on the model's base.
Deep lacerations in his arms had exposed the bones, and blazing red blood
weeped from the wounds.  What four year old boy wouldn't be captivated
by such a gory and macabre sight?

A few years later (if memory

serves - and why shouldn't it?

I pay it enough), Johnny's had

moved to bigger premises a

few doors along (The Hospice

Shop, I think - in the 2nd photo-

graph from the top), and it was

there I obtained my second

QUERCETTI FIREBALL XL5

parachute toy in 1968 or '69

(or even '70) for a mere 2/6d.

A bargain if ever there was

one, because the one I got

for Christmas back in 1962

or '63 cost 10/6d.  (Now
it would cost far more.)

Ah, dear old Johnny's...now sadly long gone.  It must have been
around the mid or late '70s it closed its doors for the final time, but I don't
know for certain.  In 1964, my grandparents moved to the town in which we
lived to be closer to us, and that late '60s visit to the shop was the last I can
remember.  (Might've paid it a visit around 1971, but can't be sure.)

The featured photos were taken a good few years ago, when
the original Johnny's premises were a flower shop (and may still be).
The reason I took them was because 'Johnny's' name was still clearly
visible under the painted green board above the new sign.  At least,
in real life it was clear, it's a bit harder (but not impossible) to see
it in the close-up photographs.

So, if you're around my age, and are familiar with Rutherglen, you
may well remember this legendary landmark.  Click on the pics to en-
large, click again for optimum size.  You should just be able to discern
a hint of the name of that long-gone, much-missed shop from child-
hood, when, I wager, each of us used to think we had forever.

Here's to Johnny's...and to you.

Posted in: Cartoons