#Culture

For the newest installment in my Hidden Joburg series, I visited a church in Hillbrow that I’ve been curious about for years. The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen is around the corner from the Hillbrow Boxing Club, and I have driven, jogged, and walked past it many times. But I didn’t have the opportunity to visit until last week, when Thorsten and I dropped in for the end of the Sunday morning service.

I recently joined the Rand Club, which holds a couple of black-tie events each year. When it came time to attend our first fancy function, the Club’s 135th-anniversary gala, Thorsten and I considered his black-tie options. He didn’t own a tux, we didn’t like the idea of renting one for one night, and Thorsten isn’t really a conventional black-tie kinda guy. We decided to turn this chore into an adventure and go to downtown Joburg for a funky, custom-made suit.

Last weekend I led a jacaranda walk through Rosebank and neighboring Parkwood for Johannesburg in Your Pocket, followed by sundowners in a penthouse at the Tyrwhitt.

Although the jacaranda blooming season is on the wane, we still found plenty of purple vistas to photograph and the trees looked great from the Tyrwhitt’s 9th-floor penthouse balcony. Plus it was Halloween weekend and hoards of cute trick-or-treaters added to the vibe.

Thorsten, my architect boyfriend, and I recently led a walking tour of Brixton, our home suburb, on behalf of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. That tour was a big success so we’ve decided to strike out on our own and host another one – a “Brixton Tour with the Blogitects” on November 12th. We’re teaming up with Kia’s Kitchen and a bunch of other cool Brixton personalities. It’s going to be fun! Sign up now before the tour fills up.

The Radium Beer Hall, known as “Joburg’s oldest running bar” – there are older bars, but none of them have remained open continuously for as long as the Radium – is not a new destination for me. I’ve been there several times over the years for beer and/or pizza, but somehow I had never gotten around to blogging about it. And since the Radium is one of the places featured in the Hidden Johannesburg book, and I’ve made a commitment to visit and blog about all of those places, I think it’s finally time to put the Radium on the 2Summers map.