I’m a sucker for second hand bookshops, actually I’m a sucker for bookshops, period. But if you want a real experience visit the Collectors’ Treasury in Commissioner St in Joburg’s eastern inner city.  It is located in an 8 story building – a very unprepossessing post-war structure, which is slightly further west of Arts on [...]

Park Station then and now:
 
Currently seen opposite Brickfields in Newtown and just south-west of Mandela Bridge
Johannesburg’s first railway station ,  commissioned by the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek and designed by the Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer, was  manufactured in Rotterdam in 1895.  It was brought out to the Transvaal and was re-erected at Park Halt (as Park [...]

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation runs weekly tours usually on Saturday afternoons. What makes them special is that they explore interesting parts of Johannesburg, often include unusual places and spaces that are off-the-tourist-route, and they are often walking tours. They also sometimes do bus tours (like the Parktown Garden Tour on Sun 17th Feb and the [...]

If one of your goals in 2013 is to take more time off and get fit while also getting into nature, then we have lots right on our doorstep in Joburg.   I was sent the Friends of Kloofendal newsletter and was amazed by the range of activities and events on offer.
Run by Joburg City [...]

Cycling is becoming an increasingly popular way of seeing local Joburg sites and sights.  Lebo of  Sowetobicycle tours has for many years offered cycling tours.  There are various options on offer starting from a 2 hour tour which includes a visit to a worker’s hostel, the Hector Pieterson Museum as well as the route of [...]

On Saturday 17th November there is a Johannesburg Heritage Foundation walk (2 hours) past 2 homes in Parktown: Brenthurst, & Timewell with a visit to Etunzini.  [Unfortunately this tour is for members only but there is still time to join. Phone Eira on (011) 482-3349] Back to the tour ..  Brenthurst was designed by Baker [...]

Yes .. it’s jacaranda time again and already some of the trees along the streets of the older suburbs of the Joburg have a purplish tinge to them.   My weekly walks in Westcliff  offer glorious views from the top of the famous ‘Westcliff steps’,  so loved by mountaineers training for climbing ‘Killi’.   (My aspirations are [...]

Coming up on the 20th October is a tour of the Wits campus. Apart from seeing a range of architectural styles from different decades of the 20th Century, the east campus offers insight into the original planning and layout of the core early buildings  while the west campus offers interesting examples of adaptive re-use  in [...]

Amazing show of significant objects from Wits’ collections. On at WAM (Wits Art Museum) until 14th October. Included diverse range such as world-renowned fossils, 13th century manuscripts, 16th century musical instruments, amazing San rock paintings, Mandela’s handwritten notes from the Rivonia treason trial, Sol Plaatjie’s diary, original Herbert Baker drawings [...]

 
 
 
Just discovered a great website on Joburg (bit embarrassed I didn’t know of it before).    It’s  www. jhbwtc.blogspot.com and it’s the website of  the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism.   Based at Wits University, their work (as their name indicates) is academic and inter-disciplinary, focusing on critical social analysis.  I found an interesting article [...]