VIDEO: Durban then and now!
Here are two videos: firstly, a Durban tourism video released in 1962. It has all the cheese and retro glam you'd expect from a video marketing the "gayest holiday resort in Southern Africa!" Secondly, our 'Durban is Happy' video.
We thought with the Discovery East Coast Radio Big Walk having taken place yesterday, together with the bright colours and smiles synonymous with our democracy lighting up our beachfront, we'd show you a video of the beachfront, recorded in 1962.
The most glaringly obvious aspect of the video is the fact that the only non-white people who feature are the rickshaw runners.
It is narrated by a know-it-all British male who pretends to hold the monopoly on truth on Durban's "fun in the sun pleasure-seekers..."
As for the ridiculous looking pageants, the festival of watersports, and the bouncing revellers on the trampolines...Well, OK, bring back the trampolines we say - they look like a lot of fun!
While the video lacks all the colour and bright smiles we saw at the Big Walk yesterday, it does serve as a stark reminder of just how far we have come as a democratic South Africa.
Either way, it's hilarious. It might not have been at the time, but it sure as hell is now!
Let's take a look at how things have changed! We even prefer the narration in this one!
As always, feel free to leave your comments here.