The article below forms part of Mike Alfred's series on Joburg personalities from the first decade of the 21st century. Click here to view Kathy Munro's fantastic introduction and here to view the series index. The stories were written in 2005/6.
Ravindra [Ravi] Lalla, and his brother Narendra [Naren] started Popular Picture Framers and General Dealers in Main St, Jeppestown, some thirty years ago. From the start, it was successful as a general store and after the later addition of the framing business with its reasonable prices, customers come from far and wide, from all over Johannesburg and surrounds. Visiting this part of the city is an exercise in time travel. Jeppestown with Fordsburg, comprise Johannesburg’s earliest suburbs, established in gold rush days. In the area close to Jeppe Station, renowned for its Art Deco design, Main St, is lined with Victorian buildings housing hardly changed, yesteryear shops. There you will find not only the Lallas’ framing business, but the tailoring business started by Ravi’s dad and continued by his oldest brother. Ravi remembers the trams and electric busses on overhead power lines running up and down Main St. And he recalls a great deal else besides, because in this part of the city he spent his childhood and youth, and he’s worked here all his life.
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