Virginia Galleries

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Postby cheesemonster » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:44 pm

dunno, can't remember, just remember him rambling on about the evils of M&S
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Postby DickyHart » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:30 am

cant see it, M&S had nothing to gain by its loss, just my opinion.
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Postby Bingo Bango » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:27 am

ah, now here is a topic that i have a (little) involvement in for once!

worked on the planning and building warrant info for the m&s building that sides onto the galleries. (no design input from me, im eager to point out)

that building, which was to consolidate all the staffing accomodation of the store is now connected to the main one with a new tunnel. its rather cool.

anyway, the fuck up with the structural problems happened just after i left the architects, and if m&s had any involvement it was a horrible mistake on their part. the fact this held up works to the offices messed up alot of the main building works and caused alot of problems for the client. problems that cost alot of money and alot of disruption to programme and operation of the store.

sorry i dont know anymore though....
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Postby HollowHorn » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:59 pm

I'm so annoyed that all this nonsense has diverted attention away from my recent pics, ya baistirts! :twisted:
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby Goliath » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:25 am

What I remember from the Galleries :

AKA Books and Comics - the joys of the 10p box, a cardboard box on the floor with various comics in it with 10p written in black marker on the cover, and the (at the time) mind-boggling collection of back issues. If I remember rightly, you entered AKA through the same door that led you into Rat Records. Think I went into Rat once, didn't recognise the names of any of the records, and left!

Obelist : Two rooms of sci-fi books, run by two middle-aged guys with beards. Remember buying some Doctor Who paperbacks in there.

Paganus : was upstairs, on the right as you came out of the lift, and right at the Virginia Street end of the building. Run (or at least staffed) by a youngish woman with loads of black eye make-up, usually wearing a flowing velvet dress, sold crystals and new-age stuff.

The Old Fashioned Lift : which was probably slower than just walking up the staircase that coiled round it, but was much more fun.

The Two or Three Wee Steps Just As You Entered The Building : where you often had to squeeze past the groups of goths who would sit there for hours on end.

The Video Shop/Film Posters Place : Directly across from AKA/Rat, on the other side of the lift.

Military Memorabilia Shop, Second hand Clothes Place (was it Mr Benn?) : Don't know much about these.
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby John » Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:38 am

Did someone mention comics?

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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby mjw » Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:06 am

What I remember about the place was that it was well hidden away. I can vaguely recall the comics and books shops but I can definitely remember the record shop as I bought a picture disc that jumped on one track, also buying some Amiga pirated games from a place on the second floor that disappeared one day never to return. Wee places like this off the beaten track appeal to me like the Remnant Kings building in Argyle Street with the working lift and nicely tiled stairs.
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby Chr1ss » Mon Jun 16, 2014 3:54 pm

Ah, the galleries, I lived in Glasgow from the late 80's till the mid 90's, my memories:

Obelisk; run by Russell and Fred, with various hangers on! my memories of Russell Aitken were of a polite decent man, he was also an artist if I recall, I hope he is alive and well, where else could you get that obscure Moorcock from 1973?

Aka; John, Steve and Pete (he was damn creepy! I spent so much money in that shop, someone mentioned the 10p box, always a good find in there, I have been in many comic shops around the world since then, none come close, it was a magical time! I never cared for the shop after the move.

Whiplash; Kenny and more heavy metal than you could shake a stick at!!!

Paganus; Run by Helen, the friendliest goth on the planet, she was always dancing to the sisters of murky!

Ramond, the gothic caretaker!!

I was sad to hear of its passing, the photo with the sign laying discarded on the ground is heartbreaking, seems the character and quirkiness proved here is now gone forever.

damn, those were great days!!
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby Josef » Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:59 pm

Chr1ss wrote:Obelisk; run by Russell and Fred, with various hangers on! my memories of Russell Aitken were of a polite decent man, he was also an artist if I recall, I hope he is alive and well, where else could you get that obscure Moorcock from 1973?


Was that the sci-fi shop on the ground floor on the left as you went in?
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby dazza » Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:48 pm

Josef wrote:Was that the sci-fi shop on the ground floor on the left as you went in?


It was a bookshop on the right as you went in. It sold a lot of those early 1900's sci-fi pulp mags like Amazing Stories.
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby Josef » Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:57 pm

dazza wrote:
Josef wrote:Was that the sci-fi shop on the ground floor on the left as you went in?


It was a bookshop on the right as you went in. It sold a lot of those early 1900's sci-fi pulp mags like Amazing Stories.


That'll be a 'yes' then (allowing for my poor sense of orientation).

I bought vast quantities of pulp novels in there. To this day I have virtually every Philip K Dick And Clifford D Simak novel ever published. Donated the rest to some charity or other.
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby Chr1ss » Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:08 pm

Yeah, it was on the right hand side of the building, one other memory of Obelisk was the box of Prog rock vinyl near the back of the shop, I remember a hippie getting very excited about a curved air lp!
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Re: Virginia Galleries

Postby The Creeping Spleen » Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:29 am

I can remember back in the mid 90s, AKA Comics hosting a signing by some of the guys behind "Crisis" (a comic that desperately wanted to be a grown up 2000AD, but died on its arse).

Anyway, there was half a dozen or so artists and writers from the comic, all sitting behind a trestle table pitched midway between AKA and Obelist. The only two "names" I remember were writer John Smith (who signed himself THE John Smith), and publicist Igor Goldkind. Plus various pieces of Crisis related merchandise on the table, promo copies of the comic, original artwork, and a dozen or so t-shirts etc.

So, there's a queue of folks waiting to get stuff signed (I was nearer the front door than the head of the queue), when suddenly the fire alarm goes off. No one bats an eyelash, the fire alarm was known to go off if someone so much as sneezed near it.

Then one of the guys from AKA comes out and says it's a real fire alarm, someone smelled smoke, fire brigade's on the way, can we all just bugger off for a bit while they look into things.

As all the punters trooped out the door, muttering curses, I had a bit of a brainwave - "If I loiter unobtrusively near the entrance, I can nip back in once the all clear's been given and get to the front of the queue."

Eventually, we get the nod to head back in (the "fire" had been someone in the first floor kitchen trying to make a cheese toastie which had gotten a wee bit out of hand) and found that most of the t-shirts etc. had mysteriously gone missing...
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