Page 138 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023 LISBON EDITION
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on this site in 1955. “She was the first to call a
short skirt a ‘Mini,’ with the name inspired by
the motor vehicle,” he says, as a compact Mini
Cooper (first manufactured in 1961) rolls by on
cue.
Further along, at 430 King’s Road, Vivienne
Westwood and the Sex Pistols’ manager Mal-
colm McLaren became the mom and pop of punk
fashion at the shop now known as World’s End.
But perhaps the best-known King’s Road bou-
tique in the 60s and 70s was Granny Takes a Trip
(now closed), which attracted everyone from
The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to The Rolling
Stones (yes, them again) with their flamboyant,
often dandyish styles.
“People don’t look ‘round at you if you have a
Mohican haircut,” Barber explains, pulling a flat
cap low over his own thatch of steely grey hair.
“There’s a palpable ‘live and let live’ feel here.”
Other highlights of Barber’s tour include
curbside stops at Bob Marley’s former home at
42 Oakley Street and the terraced mansions
once owned by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger
at 3 and 48 Cheyne Walk, respectively. This chic
street, whose illustrious residents have included
Elizabeth Taylor, former New York mayor
Michael Bloomberg, and Dracula author Bram
Stoker, is just minutes—yet also worlds—away
from the squalid flat The Stones originally
shared at 102 Eden Grove. That was in the early
60s, when Keith Richards would shoplift for
food, the boys’ mothers did their laundry, and
they brainstormed the name The Rolling Stones
while sitting on their “horrendous, smelly”
brown carpet. Ah, good times.
The site that has born witness to the greatest
Top: Vivienne Westwood, who died in
December 2022, is memorialized in a mural constellation of stars is, arguably, Chelsea Old
on King’s Road. She gained renown for her Town Hall. Richard Burton, Alfred Hitchcock,
punk and “New Romantic” fashions of the Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, Pierce Bros-
70s and 80s nan, and Hugh Grant have all tied the knot
Opposite: Legendary musicians like Pink within its stone and brick walls.
Floyd, The Who, and Jethro Tull recorded at
Sound Techniques studio, housed in an 18 th “Everyone wants to get married here, because
century dairy building behind these black it is so iconic,” says registrar Summra Nasir,
gates. The studio at 46A Old Church Street whose work means that she regularly encoun-
closed in 1976. ters a variety of celebrities, including Elton
John. And what is the Rocket Man like in reality?
“He was sweet, a really nice guy,” smiles Nasir,
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