Lister Memorial - reposted

During my weekly tourism slot on LuisterFM 90.6 last week the Lister Memorial in Summerstrand came up in the conversation.  Even though the presenter had seen the stone monument before he had never knew what it was for.  I just realised again that there aren't many people who did know about it and even if you had seen it you wouldn't know who Joseph Storr Lister was.  So I decided to report a post I did about it in January 2011.  Please excuse the recycled picture as I didn't have a chance today to swing past there to take a new photo.

The area along Port Elizabeth's southern coastline which is reached via Marine Drive is where the Driftsands area can be found.  In the late 1800's the movement of sand dunes towards the town was very worrying to the town council and plans were devised to stop the sand from "invading" and overrunning Port Elizabeth.  One of the things done was a railway line that was built along the dunes and all the town's garbage was taken out there by train and dumped on the dunes.  In the late 1880's Josep Storr Lister came up with an idea to stabilise the dunes by planting Port Jackson trees and exotic grasses.  He commenced his work in 1890 and was successful in stabilising the dunes both in Port Elizabeth as well as on the Cape Flats in Cape Town.  Only problem though is that the exotic species have today become a problem in the area and we now work towards eradicating them and allowing indigenous coastal bush to take its place.  A small stone monument stands in Summerstrand next to Marine Drive as a memorial to the work Lister did.  Unfortunately the plaque that told the story on the memorial got wings and disappeared many years ago.

Then and Now - The Beach Hotel

Yesterday morning Errol Somerville posted two old photos of the Beach Hotel on the Friendly City of Port Elizabeth Facebook group.  The first one dates from round about 1924, the year the hotel was built.  I went to have a look on the Beach Hotel's website to see if they had any history about the hotel on there and found the following:

It is believed that the original Beach Hotel and surrounding area belonged to Piet Retief and his family.  His home, a tennis court and servants quarters stood on this ground. 

Tenders for the proposed Beach Hotel were called for on 22 June 1893.  The wood and iron structure was designed by architect George William Smith.  Construction progressed rapidly and on 16 February 1894, the hotel was officially opened with a grand luncheon party.  The first Manager was Mr. Edward Steinmann.

Then, sadly, at 5 o’clock on 1 December 1915, the hotel went up in flames.  Townsfolk rushed to witness firemen desperately fighting the fire which destroyed the entire building within an hour.  In 1922 Humewood was ripe for development after the Marine Drive was completed.  Mr. Bill Poole immediately took the option on the first hotel site and built the second Beach Hotel.  The building was completed in 1924. The hotel changed hands several times and was later bought by a Mrs. Lupping at an auction for £46 000.  Wilfred Guscott bought the hotel from the Luppings, and his nephew, Roy Lombard, bought it in 1958.

Mr Lombard brought about the first alterations to the hotel when he elevated it to the first three star hotel in the country.  It is now a popular family run hotel  which welcomes holidaymakers and businessmen alike from across the world. 

 The second picture dates back to the late 50's or early 60's and I guess was taken just after Roy Lombard made the alterations.

My car was in for a service yesterday and while waiting outside the Beach Hotel for the shuttle to pick me up I decided to snap a picture of the hotel as it looks now for a comparison.  I tried my best to get a good picture from a similar angle which wasn't easy with the boundary wall and parking area in the way.  It's pretty close though to make a Then and Now comparison. The outside building that was used as off-sales back then is now a restaurant in the form of Ginger. The entrance has changed and there is no more balcony (which is a great pity as the view would be awesome) while the Verandah restaurant has also been added since back then.

Boardwalk Hotel view to Millers

This is the view standing on the Boardwalk Hotel's pooldeck looking towards Millers and Pollok Beach.  The middle rock of the lot is Bird Rock and Hobie Beach is just to the left of the picture.  With all the palm trees one who don't know the PE beachfront could easily think it's somewhere tropical.  Heck, with some of these hot and humid days we've been having it could just as well be.

Summerstrand skyline

Every time I visit Durban and see how over developed their beachfront it is, I think of our own.  We truly are very fortunate in Port Elizabeth that our beachfront wasn't developed like the one in Durbs.  That we can drive normally along our beachfront and not struggle along narrow roads through tons of traffic.  The we don't struggle for parking.  That we can see the ocean from most of it without having a lot of buildings on the seas side of the road.  Don't you just love the Port Elizabeth beachfront? I sure do.

Boardwalk fountains (in blue)

I'm currently in Durban at Tourism Indaba promoting the Eastern Cape, learning, observing and networking.  Unfortunately I also just realized that I have very much run out of pictures thanks to all the travelling I have been doing lately.  So I trawled through my mobile and found a couple of pics to share with you over the next few days.  The Boardwalk Fountain Spectacular has become a must see for all visitors to Port Elizabeth.  This weekend the Democratic Alliance's national conference is taking place at the Boardwalk and I thought this picture I took a couple of weeks ago is quite apt as the DA is painting the Boardwalk blue this weekend.

A very tall hotel

The Cascades Apartment building in Summerstrand always looked like a tall building...  That was till the Radisson Blu Hotel was built.  Now the Cascades look pretty tiny in comparison.  

Port Elizabeth Beachfront timelapse over New Year

I spotted this timelapse by Chris Wright on Facebook the other day and just had to share it with you.  The timelapse was put together from webcam footage taken between 31 December 2014 and 2 January 2015 and shows the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day activity on Hobie Beach.

Polok Beach landmarks

We joined a couple of friends for breakfast at the Wimpy in the Summerstrand Village Shopping Centre.  Standing outside on the deck you can see the Piet Retief Monument in the foreground and the old Something Good roadhouse in the back.  The roadhouse has stood empty for a couple of years now and extensive renovations have started on the building in the week after I took this picture.  I think most people in town are very excited to see what will emerge after the work.

Radisson on Marine Drive

Love it or hate it, the five star Radisson Hotel on the beachfront in Summerstrand has become a landmark on the South African skyline.

Marine Drive in Summerstrand

Looking south down onto Marine Drive in Summerstrand from the restaurant area of the Radisson Blu Hotel.

Piet Retief Monument

The Piet Retief Monument in Summerstrand stands on what used to be Voortrekker leader Piet Retief's farm Strandfontein.  The monument was originally erected in Coega to the east of Port Elizabeth and unveiled in 1939 to commemorate the centenary of the Great Trek.  In 1975 is was decided to move it to the location in Summerstrand because of its link to Piet Retief.

Lister Memorial

The area along Port Elizabeth's southern coastline which is reached via Marine Drive is where the Driftsands area can be found.  In the late 1800's the movement of sand dunes towards the town was very worrying to the town council and plans were devised to stop the sand from "invading" and overrunning Port Elizabeth.  One of the things done was a railway line that was built along the dunes and all the town's garbage was taken out there by train and dumped on the dunes.  In the late 1880's Josep Storr Lister came up with an idea to stabilise the dunes by planting Port Jackson trees and exotic grasses.  He commenced his work in 1890 and was successful in stabilising the dunes both in Port Elizabeth as well as on the Cape Flats in Cape Town.  Only problem though is that the exotic species have today become a problem in the area and we now work towards eradicating them and allowing indigenous coastal bush to take its place.  A small stone monument stands in Summerstrand next to Marine Drive as a memorial to the work Lister did.  Unfortunately the plaque that told the story on the memorial got wings and disappeared many years ago.

Thanks to regular PEDP visitor Roche who reminded me of this very unknown monument.