Walking Man in Jo' burg

This is a wonderful image on the side of a sky scraper in the CBD (Central Business District).

Okay an aside - one of my pet peeves about newspapers here in SA is that they utilize acronyms without saying what they refer to---ARGGHH. Come on people not everyone is on the inside...I feel like I am constantly in a meeting of higher ed types -- who just love acronyms.

Any way "Jo'burg Man" was created by Dale Yudelman and Arlene Amaler-Raviv to celebrate the vibrancy of the city. They combined a photo of turn-of-the-century Jo'burg with a "building-sized" farmer walking through the middle of town dominating everything around him. This poster dominates Main Street in the CBD.

'He strides with pride across the cityscape of Johannesburg at the turn of the twentieth century. He has toiled the soil, built our city and owns his own identity - An icon of contemporary man
in a free South Africa.'

The CBD today is in a state of transition. During the 1970's, many businesses, retail and residential interests fled the city for the relative safety of the Northern Suburbs. The central area of the city was largely abandoned by whites and middle class blacks. What was left was largely barricaded, walled and blocked off. The main offices of the vibrant banking community remain as well as provincial government, city government and some larger businesses.

But the city remains vibrant and teeming with activity. We were
down on a walking tour on a Saturday morning in March so the streets in the photo to the left look devoid of people. On a weekday, the streets are full of people. A few streets over from this photo are large street markets, restaurants and other small businesses.

Downtown Jo'burg is not a first stop on most tourist agendas and some of our Jo'burg friends have not been in the center city since the 70's, but it is a really interesting place. The many vacant buildings or buildings housing squatter settlements are enough to scare middle-class people away. One has to be mindful when in downtown, but its reputation seems worse than the reality (at least during the daytime.)

The spot where this photo was taken is in an Urban Development Zone. Essentially businesses in the area band together and take responsibility for security, improvements, trash and other services and in exchange the government gives them back some tax dollars to support these efforts. Interesting idea and seems to be effective in pockets of the city.

Two weeks after this day, we were back in the CBD for a charity auction. Our friend Rosemary, suggested we go to a Chinese Restaurant that she had not been to for years. We drove through the deserted city streets and found the Swallows Inn restaurant on Commissioner's Street. We were the only people in the place, but the food was divine. Rosemary said that it lived up to all of her memories and we plan a return visit soon.