Woodstock and Salt River: Images

Woodstock and Salt River Jewish Community Images

Herschel Gelbart writes in February 2025:

Here are some pictures taken by my Woodstock friend Solly Guttman in February 2025. (Solly later moved to Sea Point where he became the Gabba of Arthur's Road Shul.) He was a great photographer when we were kids and always was brilliant at drawing. He helped us all with our projects. He went back to Woodstock last week to photograph the streets near the shul buildings (on the corner of Albert Street and Argyle Streets). Most of us lived near the shul.

In the 1930s to 1960s most of the businesses in the main roads were owned and run by our Jewish families: butcher shops, dairies, car dealerships, furniture and clothing stores. There were dentists' and doctors' rooms. As I look at the pictures of the main roads, both Lower and Upper Main Road, in 2025, I am saddened to see how much less business-like the area looks, compared to the vibrant look at our time growing up there. I can picture myself catching buses into town. (The bus company was even owned by a Jewish company.) And I recall walking to cheder at 4 pm in the rain in cold Cape Town winters in wellington boots and walking back at 5:30pm in the dark with our chaverim, calling in at the fish and chips shop, signing on my mother's account, to warm up and dry out before going home to dinner with the family.

Many Jewish families started out living in a flat above the shop. Then they moved to houses nearby. Solly has photographed the homes of our cousins, the Rosenthals and Getzes, who lived side by side, down the road from us. We had a huge stand which is now occupied by a block of flats. Upper Woodstock is now sought after by judges and lawyers as it takes only 15 minutes to get to the courts versus over and hour to town from Constantia, Newlands, etc. We never appreciated the view of the mountains as we walked up our road. It had very old oak trees planted at the time of one of the Governors of the Cape whose home was nearby. This is now used as an art school and gallery and is part of UCT, named for Ruth Prowse.

When the shul, the cheder and the hall were all sold in 1986 they were in a sad state, not having been used for a few years. Since then, they have had various uses. First it was a fashion house factory, supplying Woolworths with quality products. Then it became a place for classy weddings and parties for Capetonians. The buildings have changed hands again and the shul and hall are now owned by The People’s Church. All the buildings are in immaculate condition. The exteriors are spotless.