#History

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.

Several weeks ago I blogged about the night Thorsten and I spent at the African Penthouses in downtown Joburg. Very soon afterward we spent a night at the Rand Club, so I decided to make a mini “Sleeping in Jozi” series to showcase some options for staying overnight in downtown Joburg.

As most of you know, I’m on a quest to visit all the places featured in the Hidden Johannesburg book. Last week I went to the View, a historic Victorian mansion in Parktown, as part of a tour with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This brings my total number of Hidden Joburg places visited to 18, with 10 left to go.

My quest to visit all the places in the Hidden Johannesburg book – which began with my pilgrimage to the Lemon Squeezer Church and then a [visit to the Lions Shul](http://lions shul) – continues. I recently went to Glenshiel, a historic mansion designed by renowned architect Herbert Baker, on a tour with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This brings my total number of Hidden Joburg places to 17, with 11 left to go.

Several months ago, Thorsten and I took a walk through the old Johannesburg Gas Works. Our visit happened spontaneously and we definitely shouldn’t have done it. Most of the Gas Works has been abandoned since gas production terminated 30 years ago, and the buildings aren’t safe. I felt guilty afterward and I don’t want to encourage anyone else to do this, which is why I didn’t blog about it for so long.