Page 80 - KBHA Bulletin 16

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Road, playing with two jars of brightly coloured stones left by an old friend of his

father’s who had fished for years off the Namibian coast. A passing stranger, a foreign
woman, offered him 5/- for them which he readily accepted. It was only years later

that the family realised that the ‘stones’ were in fact uncut diamonds. There were
seven children in the Ferreira family and in addition Anthony, Frederick (Bunny) and

Sarah Trimmel, grew up at this house. Stavie married Georgina Gomez (Aunty Jean)
whose fish cakes were a legend in Kalk Bay. For many years Stavie supplied diesel to

the fishing boats and ran a bait and tackle shop in the harbour. He also had a share in

the Harbour Café with his sister Dinah. This house was bought by his brother Pedro in
1969.

The Klein Family

Another well known Windsor Road property owner was Leon Klein. (Fig. 2.45.) His
father had lost everything in the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Breweries

gave Leon a temporary job as relief barman in the cocktail bar at the Majestic in 1933.
He worked there for 9 years before joining the Fleet Air Arm in 1942. He rented both

Bay Motors and the Adams garage (The Forge today) which were used for paid

parking and car storage. In 1946, in partnership with Mendel Sher, he bought all the
properties from Ocean View Flats to what is now The Forge. In 1972 this whole block

was auctioned and bought outright by Leon Klein for R14,250. In 1980 Bob Sowden
bought the whole block for R40,000 – apparently he thought he had bought Ocean

View Flats only and was surprised to find he owned all the buildings to The Forge. By

the early 1980s Windsor Road along with much of Kalk Bay was in decline. The
buildings in the street were sorely lacking in paint and there was a run down feel to

the place. It seems Bob borrowed money from Leon Klein which he then used to paint
and repair his Windsor Road properties. It was the start of the slow renaissance of the

street.

Conclusion

As we can see the period up to about 1930 was one of building and renewal. At that

time, the buildings must have looked like they do now, freshly painted – everything
clean and tidy. Of course in the 1930s and later – it was a very different street in many