Stories Archive

Part 1 of 3: The Great Fire of Hermanus The year 1958 was famous for the worst fires the town had ever experienced. The most destructive of several fires that year was named “The Great Fire of Hermanus” in the local media, which occurred almost exactly 60 years ago, on […]

As a form of entertainment, film came very early to Hermanus, with the first cinema opening in town just seven years after South Africa’s first cinema opened in Johannesburg in 1909. Although the early theatres are fondly remembered by generations of Hermanus residents, the last cinemas in town closed in […]

After the death, in 1940,  of PJ Luyt, the hotelier who had turned The Marine into a highly successful and popular establishment, his resourceful widow Joey renamed the hotel as ‘Luyt’s Marine Hotel’. She managed it herself, with the help of her daughters and some dedicated staff, until 1947. By […]

Late in the 19th century a type of tourism began in Hermanus that would last for and influence five decades of life in Hermanus. Since then, tourism and the associated hotel industry has played a major role in all commercial activity in the town. It brought into town members of […]