Granny Takes a Trip

Granny Takes a Trip was an boutique opened in the 1960s at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth and Sheila Cohen. The shop, which remained open until 1973, has been called the "first psychedelic boutique in the 'Swinging London' in the 1960s." [http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/HaroldChapman/ppages/ppage14.htm TopFoto Gallery - Harold Chapman ] ]

The name has been appropriated various times by clothing stores around the world, including a present-day vintage fashion store in Hermosa Beach, California [http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/content/view/237/121/ Vintage Fashion Guild - GRANNY TAKES A TRIP ] ] and a clothing store on Sunset Boulevard during the Los Angeles punk scene [ [http://www.alicebag.com/janewiedlininterview.html Interview w/ Jane Wiedlin for www.alicebag.com ] ] . The shop had an earlier location on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. It sold clothes imported from Britain in the glam rock period of the early 1970s. It was also the name of a Purple Gang song of the 1960s named after the store and banned by the BBC.

A new shop under the same name is in development [ [http://www.hutarchitecture.com/projects-new.php?ProjectID=31 Hut Architecture :: Granny Takes a Trip ] ]

Opening

The boutique was the brainchild of two young Londoners, Nigel Waymouth and Sheila Cohen, who were looking for an outlet for Cohen’s ever-increasing collection of antique clothes. Waymouth, a free-lance journalist, came up with the name and was offered the premises at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, a previously unfashionable part of the road known as the World’s End. In the summer of 1965, John Pearse, who had trained as a tailor on Savile Row, agreed to join them in the venture. The shop opened in early 1966.

By the spring of 1966 the shop had achieved worldwide renown, including a feature in the “Swinging London” edition of Time Magazine. They paved the way for many of the designer boutiques that followed, such as, Mr. Freedom, Alkasura, Let It Rock, and later the more ambitious enterprises of Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith. In the subsequent decade, the shop clothed London’s fashionable young men and women, including many major rock performers. A constant stream of people visited the shop, especially on Saturdays during the weekly King’s Road Parade.

Its ambiance was a mixture of New Orleans bordello and futuristic fantasy. Marbled patterns papered the walls, with rails that carried an assortment of brightly-coloured clothes. Lace curtains draped the doorway of its single changeroom, and a beaded glass curtain hung over the entrance at the top of steps, which led on into the shop. In the back room, an Art Deco Wurlitzer blasted out a selection of music.

The shop also became known for its changing facade. At one time the entire front was painted with a giant pop-art face of Jean Harlow. That was later replaced by an actual 1948 Dodge saloon car which appeared to crash out from the window and onto the forecourt.

Closure

By the end of the decade, the partnership began to lose momentum. Nigel Waymouth was becoming increasingly more involved in his poster and album cover design work, and John Pearse left for Italy to work with his friends in The Living Theatre Group. Sheila Cohen continued to keep Granny operating but found it too demanding a task without her former partners. In late 1969, Cohen passed on the shop to two New Yorkers, Gene Krell and his partner, Marty. Granny Takes A Trip remained open for another four years, until it closed in 1973.

ee also

* Top Gear
*Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

References