City lights: Start of something beautiful

11 January 2017 - 10:53 By Claire Keeton
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The night was warm. The cocktails (looked) cold. The bikes were gleaming as cyclists geared up in front of the Love Revo Café in Maboneng in downtown Johannesburg ahead of their Thursday night ride.

HANGOUT: Curiocity in Maboneng
HANGOUT: Curiocity in Maboneng

This weekly ritual attracts not only the hip residents of Maboneng, but riders from east and west, like 34-year-old Tebogo Mohlaka.

"I feel so free when I ride. I let go of everything."

If you live in Maboneng, which is bubbling with dozens of bars, restaurants, music and art spaces - the original attraction was the Arts on Main complex, where artists like William Kentridge have a studio - you need never go further than a block or two to find what you are looking for.

If you want bread try the NAME bakery and if you go for the ice-cream at Cocobel's green ice-cream truck you might run into former Miss Soweto Lungile Buhale, who is a regular patron.

She and her partner Nyiko Chauke live at Living Moad, Maboneng, one of several stylish loft developments attracting professionals in their 20s and 30s to inner city living.

He said: "I have been living here since March. I started off in Newtown from 2009 to 2010 and then moved into Braamfontein for about three years. I tried living in the suburbs in Montgomery Park but had to come back to the city."


FOR THE RIDE: Many residents are young entrepreneurs Pictures: Courtesy NYIKO CHAUKE

Unlike in the suburbs, people in Maboneng are out on the street.

This was obvious the first time I cycled into Maboneng on a Friday night Critical Mass ride and we stopped for beers and pizzas at The Bioscope.

Gile said: "Everything here is integrated. You walk down the street to get what you need. There is so much demand from people it is growing organically."

Glamorous as she is, even in running kit, Gile is not the only one who looks like she has stepped off a catwalk. This is a hangout of beautiful young things like Thifhuriwi (Zoe) Nephawe, who takes foreigners partying when they come to town.

She also showed me and my son around the 12 Decades Joburg Art hotel and a new loft development called Maverick Corner. With its view across to the skyscrapers like Ponte in Hillbrow it's a spectacular space.

The kitchen opens into the living room with its table top made of 5c pieces and at the foot of the double bed is a bath on an elevated platform.

Chauke, who works for property developer Propertuity - which is driving the rejuvenation of the Maboneng precinct - says that many of the residents are first- generation entrepreneurs.

Take Mama Mexicana restaurant, where we had hot Mexican tacos and burritos.

These pioneers are fired up by the spirit of Maboneng and the development also offers lots of smaller office space for SMEs.

Hayleigh Evans took a risk when she started the PopART theatre in Maboneng about five years ago and it's proved popular. When the theatre closes late at night she can walk home.

"In the beginning there were so few of us we knew each other and it was a tighter space," said Evans, who moved there in 2012. "But the community has grown and so has the energy."

The friendly owner of Shakes Bar, Mpho Masilo, thrives on the energy of the neighbourhood.

"We treat each other with respect and have fun together," he said.

Judging by the high spirits at Le Shai's Beauty Salon next door long after dark business at Maboneng doesn't slow down when the sun sets.

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