European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Reborn Glasgow deserves second look by Stephen Williams new Day employing just the Trace of condescension for which they Are so famous some englishmen still refer to Glasgow As Quot the big smoke some glaswegian with the forthrightness they Are famous for still refer to englishmen As snobs but the English a and the rest of the world a Are beating a dead horse. Glasgow the port City that gave birth to the Industrial revolution it was Britain s great victorian Metropolis the second City Quot of the Empire was bypassed by Progress years ago the dust quite literally has settled. The thriving shipyards along the Clyde River where the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth 2 were built Are history. The Mammoth foundries that turned out the world s sturdiest locomotives Are Long gone. Glasgow has gone on a Binge of rediscovery environmentally artistically and socially. It is Britain s Renaissance City of the late 20th Century. The postwar mania to make Glasgow a Greener More liable place resulted in the demolition of the Borbals a notorious inner City slum area and the Rise of the verdant pocket Parks that Dot the City. The soot and grime have been sandblasted off the red and yellow Sandstone to reveal terraces galleries and concert Halls of gleaming magnificence. Glaswegian a Tough Loyal Independent and industrious lot adopted a cultural Bent. The City s Art gallery and museum dominated by a magnificent Lewis Organ is stunning and has gathered what is billed As Britain s finest civic collection of National and Continental Art Monet Van Gogh Rembrandt. Glasgow is also Home to the scottish opera and Ballet the British broadcasting corp. Scottish symphony orchestra and the Royal scottish orchestra. To top things off Glasgow was named by the european economic Community As the european City of culture in 1990, joining such company As Florence Paris and Athens. That award spurred even More changes. Multistory shopping malls opened Complete with California style food courts. Restaurants passed up their menus. Performing artists put Glasgow on their touring itineraries. In More ways than one Glasgow had cleaned up its act. And the Bottom line for visitors is that Glasgow today is a Sleeper City. Not in terms of bargains a British Pound is a scottish Pound and it s still stronger than the Dollar but in terms of discovery. Take one Devonshire gardens for example. Set in three stately victorian mansions a Small mansions a in Glasgow s West end the one Devonshire hotel is a Rich dose of Ritz in a City that does t flaunt Many pretentious. It s an anachronism among the smaller hotels and bed and breakfast houses. My room no. 2, was the size of two or three Manhattan apartments with giant Bay windows a canopied four poster bed an oversized victorian tub embellished with brass and porcelain fittings a Plush Maroon sofa everything was Plush Maroon. On top of this there was the drawing room Tum cocktail lounge the $60 prix file dinner the scottish Salmon for breakfast the assortment of single malt scotches for Nightcap. And the Poco do resistance the sum Metier who brought me a Glass of chardonnay was named Johnny Walker. Sir would you prefer red or Black with dinner Quot l est you get the idea that Glasgow reeks with wealth be adv bed it s mainly big spurgers and fabulous people a anti As Luciano Pavarotti and Greta Scacchi who sup and May at one Devonshire where a double room starts at $2"0 a night. One Devonshire is very much a Black silk tie i i Blue Collar City. One a Deli of Scotland s 5 million people live in Glasgow lie Tore the population spread out into the Quot a Burns which now stretch in All directions from the Glyde River they lived atop each other in tour and Tive Story walk ups with common toilets. When the it. Ity lathers decided that the tenements which were Breeding grounds Tor tuberculosis and violence had to he destroyed they erected ugly High Rise towers in lie 1 950s and >0s that were nearly As olten Sive As the slums they  de. That was a shame Lor physically the victoriana of Ceorge Square once the Hub of the commercial District is now Home to government offices. Glasgow is its most impressive aspect. The building facades on Street after Street present stunning impressions of heroic 1 9th-Cenlury architecture. To get a feel for Glasgow begin in George Square marked by a pillar reminiscent of London s Trafalgar Square with a statue of Scotland s hero sir Walter Scott perched atop. George Square was the heart of the merchant City when Glasgow was a booming Center for the tobacco Trade Between Britain and America a profitable business for the scots that collapsed with the Onset of the revolutionary War. On one Side is the ornate City Chambers building opened in 1888 by Queen Victoria and billed As the largest Brick building in Europe the ornate Marble and Alabaster staircase in the Central Hall screams opulence and reflects a time when British Empire meant Power. A Short Way to the East is the crusty gothic Cathedral. Rooted in the 12th Century and featuring both Art upper and lower Church the Cathedral reeks of historical significance with its exemplary carvings tombs Woodwork and embroideries. The exterior scoured by Lime has a grungy medieval character a neat photo Opportunity if you just pass by. For fans of native Scot and Art Noi Noan Pioneer Charles Rennie Mackintosh the first Stop should be his immaculately restored Home at the University of Glasgow s Hunter Ian Art gallery on the other Side of the City s Kelvin give a Ark. The museum is a treasure trove for devotees of Lames Mcneill Whistler housing More than 70 of his Moody evocative paintings. I he Mackintosh House a sort of Annex contains both original furniture and replicas from the influential designer s nearby Home. The colors Are austere bordering on rigid a it s hard to imagine that anybody actually Glasgow to Quot Edinburgh 5 United kingdom v re a of Londo Nejl lived in these surroundings. At the Hunter Ian As at All Glasgow museums admission is free and donations Are welcomed less esoteric but much More fun is the museum of transport directly across from the Art museum in Kelvin Grove. Impressive displays map out Glasgow s role in the ship and locomotive Industry. Less cultural but no less necessary Are some tactics for negotiating a stay in Glasgow. Because the downtown area is a Grid driving on the left is no More a hassle that it would be in any other moderately Busy City. The Bright yellow Strathclyde buses run often and there s a Vest pocket underground that serves the Central City. Glasgow s cheery tourist Board just a Block from George Square at 35 St. Vincent St., can provide All manner of maps and guides currency Exchange theater bookings a list of hotels and bed and breakfast houses and can also arrange accommodations. For lodging with character besides the aforementioned one Devonshire the Cathedral House books guests into its seven rooms above a pub at 28 Cathedra Square. A double is about $65 a person including breakfast. Pub lunches Are recommended if you can escape the pull of Mcdonald s and Burger King. The drum and Monkey pub is dimly lit but All class the place for a pint. For a Post concert Nightcap the duplex pot still at 154 Hope St. Is wonderfully Hubby and clubby. For visitors used to London the shopping scene pales in comparison although a stroll through the princes mall on the pedestrian Only Buchanan Street offers a tidy time killer. 24 stripes Magazine March 26, 1992 a