2022

Over the years Hermanus received increasing numbers of visitors -we would call them ‘tourists’, who did not stay at one of thirteen hotels that were in business. They rather patronised small establishments that traded as tearooms or cafes. At one time, more than twenty such places for refreshments and meetings […]

For more than 50 years, between 1946 and the late 1990s, this business operated at a prime site on the (present) Blue Flag portion of Grotto Beach. It went under at least three names: The Goldfish Café, The Driftwood Den, and the Nautilus. The site is currently undeveloped and used […]

In the early 20th century, Hermanus became famous for another kind of ‘fishing’, which also had economic consequences. More accurately, it is referred to as ‘angling.’ Angling involved another level of society, being practised by middle- and upper-class males. Angling meant individual fishermen, not crews. They fished off the rocks […]

It’s not easy to think about events 76 years ago. But we are lucky enough to have a vivid story of the night before Xmas in the year that World War II came at last to an end. The Luyt family owned and managed the Marine throughout the war years, […]