Melville
Bohemian inner-city suburb of tree-lined streets, indie cafes, and a rocky Iron Age hill overlooking it all.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Melville, a Johannesburg neighborhood, opens with a local's description of a street where people of every background simply sit together, and asks how that came to be under apartheid law. It traces the suburb back to land surveyor Edward Melvill's 1896 survey, through decades as a modest mining suburb, to the students and broadcast staff who filled its cafes from the 1970s onward. You'll also hear about the Iron Age furnaces still standing on the rocky hill above the street.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Newtown
Former fruit market turned theatre and arts district where apartheid-era audiences defied segregation laws.
Rosebank
Leafy commercial district of galleries, malls and a rooftop craft market once segregated under apartheid law.
Zoo Lake
Artificial lake and park born from a nineteen-four deed requiring access for all races, a rarity under apartheid.
The Market Theatre
Converted early twentieth century produce market turned non-racial theatre that defied apartheid segregation laws.
Rosebank Sunday Market
Rooftop parking garage turned weekly market, with hundreds of stalls of crafts, food and music above the city skyline.
Vilakazi Street
Heritage street once home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, now lined with cafes and craft stalls.