Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/731331
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 13 Special Report L ike Herbert Ganado's generation, we have all 'seen Malta change' in our lifetimes. But nowhere has the pace (pun intended) of change been more dramatic than in Paceville: a thriving entertain- ment Mecca in the heart of St Julian's, that now stretches from Spinola to St George's Bay, and from Dragonara Point to Swieqi... when it quite simply didn't exist at all until the early 1970s. Driving into Paceville today, one is hard-pressed to tell where it actually begins, and where the adjacent towns fall behind. Yet even my generation can remember a time when the approach took you out of St Julian's altogether. All that was visible at the time was Paul's Punch Bowl – on the cor- ner now occupied by 'Stiletto', a gentleman's club – and a cluster of apartment buildings that would later be redevel- oped into St George's Park: the first of several tourist accom- modation facilities that would change the area's face forever. Some people's memories go back further still. Prof. Sandra Dingli, a lecturer at the Edward Debono Institute, was born in Paceville at a time when the place was still considered re- mote. To her and others, Paceville is more than just the sum total of its bars, clubs, hotels and restaurants. It is also home. "I remember my parents saying that when they got married in 1950 and moved from Sliema to Paceville, everyone told them they were moving to a really far off place," she recalls. "In my childhood, Paceville was an adventure playground. There were a few Maltese families, mainly with dads who worked at Cable and Wireless (Mercury House – a historic building in a very sad state due to be 'developed'). Quite a few British services families lived there too. "As children we would spend our free time exploring caves, secret passages and whatever else there was to explore in the grounds of the Dragonara, Villa Rosa, Fort Pembroke, the Pembroke ranges, and the area occupied by St George's Park, then fields with a small farmhouse. Lourdes lane was full of old olive trees. Plush (not sure if that is its name today, as clubs change names regularly) used to be a laundry for Brit- ish services personnel. There were two or three small bars: Tony's Bar (later Hiccups), Joe's Bar (now Barcelona), and Dick's Bar close to Spinola. All very quiet places. There were no hotels. It was a simple and enjoyable childhood with lots of adventures when Paceville lived up to its name – 'pace', or peace..." Apart from having changed beyond recognition since then, the emergent nightlife hub has also undergone a se- ries of radical internal transformations of its own. Former frequenters now in their 40s may have fond memories of prototypical nightclubs like 'Styx': with its legendary 'Beach Parties' every Friday. They might remember 'Cresta Quay' as a quiet secluded corner for romantic encounters (or at- tempts thereat), before every square inch of the shore was taken up by restaurants and kiosks. More recent generations have witnessed iconic clubs like Axis transform into shopping centres, or rock bars like the Alley giving way to gentleman's clubs. Whatever the mem- ory, however, there will always be some kind of emotional connection with the given phase in question. Perhaps the most vivid testament to Paceville's enduring – and perhaps inexplicable – appeal was what looked like an online out- pouring of grief and nostalgia at the news that Coconut Grove would be closing its doors after 25 years. People quickly took to the social media to share their pho- tos and memories of that classic rock bar when it still oc- cupied what is now Burger King up the road. I myself felt a lump in my throat as I recalled that it was there I had first heard Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album. Others promptly followed suit with anecdotes and photos of other, similarly vanished Paceville venues: BJ's – where some of the best international jazz fusion musicians, includ- ing Al Di Meola and Trilog Gurtu, had occasionally jammed after the Malta Jazz Festival... Footloose, where the pool ta- bles occasionally doubled up as impromptu dancefloors... 'Ghal Kafe', for years, the only place in the entire country to serve food 24/7... As with many such reminiscences, however, there is a tendency to glamorise certain details. Mario Vella, front- man of Maltese rock band Brikkuni, admits he is not over- sentimental about the loss of another live music venue in Paceville. As the PA green-lights a 'masterplan' for Paceville, Raphael Vassallo takes a look back at how the place evolved from practically nothing – and with nothing in the way of a plan – over the past 40 years THE PACE OF PACEVILLE'S EVOLUTION "I remember my parents saying that when they got married in 1950 and moved from Sliema to Paceville, everyone told them they were moving to a really far off place" Pass the tumbleweed... Paul's Punch Bowl in prehistoric Paceville. Then a revolution started... Villa Rosa, at St George's Bay, in Paceville's high-rise heartland: behind it, British army barracks that gave way to the town known as Pembroke (Photo: Bay Retro/Facebook) The Hilton, which in the 1990s became Portomaso, a controversial development that was the seed for the so- called golden mile that Paceville could be (Photo: Bay Retro/ Facebook) ->