One of the unfortunate realities about life in Joburg is that if you need something, you’ll probably have to go a shopping mall to buy it. And the malls here are sprawling, crowded, and uniformly depressing.
The Mean Streets of Hillbrow
On my recent post about downtown Joburg, I received some questions about Hillbrow – a huge residential community overlooking the city center. I now have some answers.
Hillbrow was a bustling middle-class neighborhood until the end of apartheid rule, when it began to transform. Similar to many 20th-century American inner cities, Hillbrow’s white middle class fled to the suburbs, making way for poor black South Africans (who were previously barred from living in places like Hillbrow) and immigrants from across the continent. The population soared and crime grew rampant; Hillbrow became a “no-go” area for visitors.
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Jozi From Above
Africa’s tallest building lives in Joburg. At 50 stories and 223 meters (730 feet) tall, the Carlton Center is modest by Western and Far-Eastern skyscraper standards. Even when you get within a couple of blocks, the Carlton Center looks strangely unimpressive. It doesn’t appear much taller than the buildings around it.
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Selassie, Obama, and Damn Good Ethiopian Food
Last weekend I wrote about the Ethiopian coffee that I enjoyed at Arts on Main. That post set off a series of fortuitous events, which ultimately led to my attending an Ethiopian cultural walk in downtown Joburg today.
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Hiking Joburg's Main Drag
Joe and I took a walk through Joburg’s Central Business District – starting at the Carlton Centre and then east on Main Street to the Magistrates Court.
There’s a rejuvenation story here although it’s not the same story as Arts on Main, which is a few blocks east. This section of Main Street houses banks, government agencies, and, above all else, international mining companies. It’s where Big Business lives.