Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

, by

Nigel Waymouth Nigel Waymouth (born 1941) is a designer and artist, a co-partner in the boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, and one of the two-man team, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, which designed psychedelic posters in the 1960s. He has since had a solo career, i ...

, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mid-1970s and has been called the "first psychedelic boutique in Groovy London of the 1960s".TopFoto Gallery – Harold Chapman
It was also the name of a Purple Gang song of the 1960s, which was named after the store and banned by the BBC. The name has been appropriated by clothing stores around the world that are not connected with the original Granny Takes a Trip, including present-day vintage fashion stores in

Hermosa Beach, California Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. The c ...

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

and Sydney, Australia.

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 freelance journalist, came up with the name and was offered the premises at 488

, 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 Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

, 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 ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine "London: The Swinging City". 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 Malcolm McLaren and

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

and Paul Smith. Over the next eight years 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. Initially the ambience was a mixture of New Orleans

bordello A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub pa ...

and futuristic fantasy. Marbled patterns papered the walls, with rails carrying an assortment of brightly coloured clothes. Lace curtains draped the doorway of its single changing room, 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 Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

blasted out a selection of music. The shop became known for its changing façade. In 1966 it featured successively giant portraits of Native American chiefs

Low Dog ''Low Dog'' (Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, se ...

and

Kicking Bear Kicking Bear ( lkt, Matȟó Wanáȟtaka, March 18, 1845 – May 28, 1904) was an Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk, and first cousin, Crazy Horse, dur ...

. In 1967 the entire front was painted with a giant pop-art face of

Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...

. That was later replaced by an actual 1948 Dodge saloon car which appeared to crash out from the window and onto the forecourt.

Acquisition by Freddie Hornik and opening of US outlets

By the end of the decade, the partnership had lost momentum. Nigel Waymouth had become involved in poster and album cover design work, as one half of

Hapshash and the Coloured Coat Hapshash and the Coloured Coat was an influential British graphic design and avant-garde musical partnership in the late 1960s, consisting of Michael English and Nigel Waymouth. It produced popular psychedelic posters, and two albums of underg ...

with Michael English (which then evolved into a musical group), and John Pearse left for Italy to work with

the Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/p ...

group. In late 1969, Cohen and Waymouth sold the business to London fashion entrepreneur Freddie Hornik, who had previously worked at Chelsea's

Dandie Fashions Dandie Fashions or sometimes Dandy Fashions was a London fashion boutique founded in 1966, following a chance encounter at the Speakeasy Club between Freddie Hornik and Alan Holston, who then got together with Australian John Crittle, the Gui ...

. For a few months the previous year this had been

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

short-lived bespoke store Apple Tailoring. Hornik brought in two New Yorkers,

Gene Krell Gene Krell is an American fashion entrepreneur, designer, and journalist. Krell is the international fashion director for the Japanese editions of Vogue and GQ, the creative director for the Korean editions of Vogue, Vogue Girl, and W, as well as ...

and

Marty Breslau Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mi ...

, and the team introduced a new, more dandified phase with rhinestone and

appliqué Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...

d velvet suits and stack-heeled boots sold to such performers as Rod Stewart,

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

. The London shop closed in 1974 with the acquisition of the name by Byron Hector, who moved the premises along the King's Road. This was closed in 1979. Hornik retired to south London. He died, aged 65, on 19 February 2009.

Image gallery

File:british fashion from 1974.jpg, Dress from Granny Takes a Trip's

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

boutique worn in 1974 File:Tatiana in vintage top.JPG, Girl wearing a 1973-vintage lamé top with the Granny Takes a Trip label.

References

External links

Granny Takes a Trip at the Vintage Fashion Guild
{{UK underground Clothing retailers of England Clothing companies of England Shops in London Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in London Retail companies established in 1966 Retail companies disestablished in 1973 1966 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England 1960s in England King's Road, Chelsea, London

Opening

Acquisition by Freddie Hornik and opening of US outlets

Image gallery

See also

References

External links