The Way Back: Street Theatre

Photos and memories courtesy of Mats Hedenstrand

I moved to Tidewater from Sweden in May 1981; my big interest in Harley-Davidson brought me to work for a Harley shop in Portsmouth. My next big interest is good music and brought me to the clubs on Hampton Blvd. I made so many friends and saw so many great bands! Life was easy and fun. Eventually, I ended up opening the store Street Theatre with my friend Ron Dotson. Street Theatre was an import of shoes and clothes from London. We also had Army clothes from several countries imported from Sweden, which we colored and designed to be cool. We had several seamstresses that worked for the store customizing the clothing, a lot of band t-shirts, shoes, and jewelry that we designed. We got the idea from stores in New York, London, and Stockholm. I don’t think stores like that exist today; it was like the punk movement, “do it by yourself!"

I went back to Sweden in 1988 for good. I am now soon to retire to play with my Harleys full time. Some of my previous work was fine carpenter, Blacksmith, roofing, and all kinds of construction. I am a father of two boys in their early '20's and I have a good life and have been able to go to the US nearly every year on vacation. Thankfully, it's so easy to have contact with my US friends today on the Net. I will take a time machine any day back to the 80's; it was the best time of my life and it was so fun in Tidewater back then.

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