Edinburgh's Wild West in Harry Potter land of Morningside

Hello Hello Hivians

It's Wednesday and today we going for a wee stroll in Morningside in Edinburgh. It's an area I know very well as my granny lived in the street that we are going to!

Today though we are practising what #wednesdaywalk is all about!

Look at what is around you!

We are currently on Spring Valley Gardens looking at a flat I have not seen for a few decades. This was where my granny lived, and when I was at boarding school, I would come up here on a Wednesday afternoon to eat either Finnan haddock cooked in milk or mince and tatties. In return I would go the local shop and buy her cigarettes and anything else she needed.

I think the days of boys aged 12 being able to buy cigarettes are long gone 🤣

A wee hoose for sale, and Mrs T was curious to see inside....

Unbeknownst to many there but behind those wee houses are some strange houses... Shall we go look at them?

Wild West town!

It's Ed Newbey's!
Come get your grain and there is even a blacksmith for your horse!

Jail anyone?

It still is funky when I look at these little buildings.

The story is that in the 1990s a furniture store called "The Great American Indoors" that sold Southwestern-style furniture, was located in the alley behind those houses we saw.

El Paso

The owner Michael Faulkner had worked as a cowboy in North America and decided to create a Wild West-style facade on the buildings in the lane to advertise his business and to remind him of his time there. The street was known as "El Paso."

The facades, which include a jail, cantina, blacksmith's, and general store, were built by two engineers who had previously worked on similar things at Disneyland Paris.

The furniture store eventually went out of business following the arrival of a major competitor and the buildings fell into a state of disrepair.

Morningside where J K Rowling lived

This was the area where the Harry Potter author lived for many years.
It also has many charity shops, who like all good retail does, doesn't miss an opportunity to push the Harry Potter narrative!

If the gown needed altering you could always use this vintage sewing machine that I am sure some of our Hivians have.

z

This post is for #wednesdaywalk which was inspired by @tattoodjay

Thanks for visiting and I hope you managed to get out for a walk this week.

Hey fellow creators & readers! 📝🎶🎨

This article was brought to you via Ecency, a cool way to blog on the Hive social platform.

Are you a writer, artist, vlogger, musician, poet, or any kind of content wizard? Hive is a bit different – it’s run by its community, not a big company. That means your voice, your content! It can't just be silenced, censored, or demonetized out of the blue. And that truly matters these days!

If you're ready for a social experience where you genuinely own and control your creations, why not check out Hive?

➡️ Learn more about Hive here
➡️ Ready to join? Create your Hive account here

Come build the future of content with us!