Visiting the Vanity Factory

[johnfoyle]

Before Elvis' Tower show next Saturday , I'm planning to check out another location on the Elvis Costello Heritage Trail . This time it's the Elizabeth Arden building that Elvis worked in and immortalized as the 'vanity factory' in I'm Not Angry on MAIT.

However the building , in effect , no longer exists. Today, the building has been converted into offices and renamed The Perfume Factory – housing , amongst others, Record Collector, (which will be publishing a special feature to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of MAIT ).

http://www.perfumefactory.info/

http://www.moveandstay.com/offices_desc ... p?id=26593





Alan Lewis, Record Collector editor , tells me -

Yes, this is the building. It's been gutted and turned into a fairly
bland office block of which we occupy a small part and the rest is
occupied by firms like Carphone Warehouse, so I'm not sure that Elvis
would find a return trip particularly rewarding!

You are welcome to drop in, although the delights of North Acton, the
industrial wasteland in which the building is located, will not detain
you long I fear!

http://www.recordcollectormag.com/site/ ... efault.asp

East Acton on the Central Line is the nearest tube station -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Acton_tube_station

So, if any here is in London next Saturday morning , you're very welcome to join in the , er, fun!

[Otis Westinghouse]

I can't recall, but I take it you've been to the Hoover Factory Tesco's. That's one bit of ECHT I must get round to before too long.

[verbal gymnastics]

John's hoping to find an assistant in Marks & Spencer who sold Elvis a sandwich in his lunchbreak in 1977 and then interview him/her

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday John.

By the way, Alan is right - Acton is not the most salubrious place!

[johnfoyle]

Alan Lewis, Record Collector editor , e-mails me -


Thanks for the mention on your website. There won't be many people
about
here on Saturday but there should be someone manning the reception
desk.
Like I said, North Acton is distinctly lacking in charm, although there
is a reasonable Fullers pub opposite The Perfume Factory if you get
desperate.

[verbal gymnastics]

You don't need to be desperate to visit a pub!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Where's my Hoover Factory photo gone. It was there yesterday, wasn't it?

try again:

[Otis Westinghouse]

Oh it was there, the blue box with ? in was temporary...

Must have been a wonder when it was brand new.

[johnfoyle]

see

http://www.londonlee.com/2007/03/five-m ... stern.html

[kilburn_bhoy]

On the subject of 'Hoover Factory', I used to travel from Park Royal to North Acton quite regularly...

[verbal gymnastics]

On the subject of 'Hoover Factory', I used to travel from Park Royal to North Acton quite regularly...

That must have been exhilarating! My aunt (not my real aunt but someone we used to call auntie ) used to live in Park Royal. I last went there about 10 years ago and there were some beautiful houses there if not much else. My only other visits since then have been looking at things and getting annoyed whilst stuck in traffic.

Otis - on my screen I can only see your picture of bobster's avatar ie a white box with a red square.

[littletriggers]

VG loved the M & S sarnie quip !
Did anyone know the filling ?

[Boy With A Problem]

Tuna and sweet corn?

[Otis Westinghouse]

Otis - on my screen I can only see your picture of bobster's avatar ie a white box with a red square.

For me it's a blue square, but it's weird cos this is what happened to me last night and why I re-posted, and then both appeared as they should, and now not.

How about a link? I like the pic as it is very clearly the Hoover Building, and yet Tesco's too!

http://www.74simon.co.uk/Frontnortheastview4web.jpg

Who cares? Who cares?

[verbal gymnastics]

Whilst we're on the subject of Hoover Factory and your photo Otis, it's not a matter of life and death

[Otis Westinghouse]

What is? What is?

I note that I now see the real photo x 2, not Bobster!

[johnfoyle]

I'm Not Angry


Spent all my time in a vanity factory,
wonderin' when they're gonna come and take it all back.

I spent some of my time in London for the Tower show checking out the 'vanity factory'.

After getting of at North Acton tube station I found the building a few minutes away -




Leaving the building you see this -



Very little in the vicinity seems to have survived from the 1970's ; this building to the right of the 'factory ' is probably an exception -



Both buildings are partly hidden by this billboard for a forthcoming TV show -




Taking a left you head down Wales Farm Road -




- cross the Western Avenue -




- and make your way to Horn Lane -







From here you can get the 95 bus on to the Western Avenue -





Hoover Factory

Five miles out of London on the Western Avenue

Green for go, green for action
From Park Royal to North Acton
Past scrolls and inscriptions like those of the Egyptian age


Walking along you can see some old buildings , definitely there in the 1970's -





Arriving at Park Royal tube station -





- it's time to get the bus , which will drop you of just after a footbridge with this view -



Walking back you get to see -









- in the central entrance -




And that's it for this part of The Elvis Costello Heritage Trail.

I'll post comments later.

[Mike Boom]

I used to live just down the road in Hanger Lane....... memories

[Man out of Time]

Thanks to John for this week's photo diary from the EC Heritage Trail. I wonder however whether the photos of Horn Lane, include number 6?

The Executive Suite at 6 Horn Lane, Acton was formerly the home of F-Beat records, and as such the address can be found on the back cover of the UK release of "I can't stand up for falling down".

Unless you've covered F-Beat, Demon and Stiff in a previous photo diary, this could have been a missed opportunity....

[verbal gymnastics]

John - could you draw us a radial map of "5 miles out of London on the Western Avenue" to pinpoint the exact spot of where that would be from? And I want the EXACT spot, not just the road

Nice photos.

[Otis Westinghouse]

How much of it is taken up by Tesco, all of it? If nbot what else is there. Did you go inside?

It's impressively restrained. here all you can see is the flags and a a bit of blue and red. No big signs.

Where were the scrolls and inscriptions to be found?

[Neil.]

The back of it's a Tesco - dunno what's just behind the front - it might just be a facia, what with it being a listed building an' all

It looks great lit up at night all in green.

[johnfoyle]

I knew there was a photo somewhere of Elvis at the Hoover building but couldn't find it last July to include in this thread. Flicking trough the booklet with the Ryko re-issue of MAIT ( the one in the 12" box that had the first three albums and the El Mocambo disc) I finally found it -



I had a memory of Elvis' awkward pose in it and decided I had to get a picture of me doing same on the location. However, and I see I never followed up with a commentary on the above photos, the building is on a busy motorway with few pedestrians. Tesco have a carpark at the back and most people drive there and have no reason to come out front. However as I was about to leave a man appeared along. He was busy texting and English wasn't his first language but he appeared to realise what I wanted . I posed ( with the wrong arm raised , I now see) he clicked , handed back the camera and was away. Sadly, as below shows, it didn't turn out terribly well -




Next time, hopefully!

[verbal gymnastics]

And one of these days the picture of John Foyle is gonna be all the rage in those fashionable pages

[jmm]

I bet it would be already if we could actually see John in the picture

[verbal gymnastics]

Hence the "one of these days" comment!