LeavingYeoville: some findings on neighbourhood identity and the process of remembering

An exercice in remembering

This series of posters stems from a strand of research within theYeoville Studio project which focused in 2011 on former residents ofYeoville, their memories of the neighborhood and their residential trajectories within and beyond.

The bulk of the research consisted in free flowing interviews of a selection of 15 former residents of all walks of life, gender, nationality and age who all have been residents inYeoville at some point in their life, some of them a long time ago (1930ies), some of them very recently (early 2000s).

The general direction of the interviews was voluntarily left to the interviewee in order to provoke remembering through the evocation of life stories, and to analyse the intersections and parallels between their personal lives and the transformation of the neighborhood. Additional material in the form of mental maps, discussions around old photographs coming from personal archives, as well as short written essays submitted by the interviewees, was also used as a means of triggering the process of remembering. Photo sessions of the interviewees organised in were also a means of revisiting old haunts and to remember their life in the neighborhood, sometimes with great excitement since a few of the interviewees never went back toYeoville after they left.

The variety of media was also helpful to reveal some details that could become underemphasized in the narrative process of the interviews, in particular when the interviewees touched upon the topic of crime and the feeling of safety they experienced: in this regard, mental maps and the narratives attached to their drawing highlighted for the more recent migrants the restrictions that crime and the fear of crime placed on the interviewees’ freedom to explore the neighborhood.

Sources: Bentley Philipps, personal statement, Nov.2011; Georgette, mental map, Nov. 2011; Cathy D., photograph, personal collection; Oy-Ling Booth, newspaper clipping, personal collection,Thembani Mkhize, photo of Happy drawing, Nov. 2011.

Timelines: childhood memories / adult memories

Due to the various ages of the interviewees at the time they used to live inYeoville, memories differ significantly. Children experiences revolved from little things like food experiences (the introduction of Coca-Cola at the Kinema in 1938, the first iced tea...), street life anecdotes, to a general feeling of living in abounded neighbourhood around which all their world revolved (school, family, shopping with their parents).

The adults had varied experiences, according to their lifestyles mostly: “jollers” obviously remembered very well thebar and club geography , budding artists and professionals focussed on meeting places for political discussions (Times Square), housewives and working young adults remembered thevariety of shops and the good connexion with the rest of the inner city where working opportunities could be found.

Despite these differences, significant shared spaces and experiences of the neighborhood cut across across all age groups :Rockey and its commercial activity stands out as a hub (in mental maps in particular), the ability towalk everywhere , the good (and now defunct) public transportation in the neighbourhood (from trams to buses), as well as the qualities of the built environment and its significant landmarks (the water tower, the blocks of flats on edge of the ridge).

The neighborhood as community

For all the interviewees, the defining quality of the neighbourhood lied in itsvillage-like atmosphere , partly stemming from the design of the streets and the general environment. Yeoville is fondly remembered as awalking space , where shopping was close at hand on Rockey/Raleigh street, where children could wander around without their parents worrying too much. The good connexion viapublic transportation was also remembered as a priceless convenience of older times.

The quality of the environment was matched by a certaintightness of the social fabric : « everbody would bump into friends all the time on Rockey street » is a statement widely shared by all the interviewees.The importance of diasporic networks for more recent migrants also points to this tightness of the social fabric:Yeoville was their entry point in the city and a place where they return regularly to socialize.

Theuniqueness of the place for the ’80s-’90s residents emerges as constitutive of a laterYeovillite identity tied to the struggle against apartheid and general rebellion: some of our interviewees emphasized their White suburban background and of their desire to escape from the constraints of their childhood and teenage years by moving toYeoville. For our Black interviewees, the opportunities offered byYeoville were enormous: the relaxed racial atmosphere, the intellectual and artistic life were all part of their formative years.

Despite this overall feeling, all the interviewees recognized the limitations in this idealisation of the neighborhood as community, whether in the form of racial segregation (resident of the pre WWII era), the illusion of racial mixing (residents of the late 80s) or the pressure of gossip for members of the same diaspora (residents of the early 2000s).

LeavingYeoville - 2011 Reasons for leaving: the personal and the general

Popular narratives interpretingYeoville’s transformation throughout the 90s paint apicture of growing crime and decay , often tied to the arrival in the area of anew wave of migrants hailing from the African continent. This chain-of-event type of narrative appears nevertheless incomplete when confronted to personal experiences: while the issue of decay was very present in most of our interviews, emerging in particular when interviewees were asked to compareYeoville now and then, a whole different set of explanations also revealedvery personal reasons for leaving the neighborhood at that time:

- most of the interviewees underlined specificturning points in their lives : a need for a change of scenery and for growing up professionnally, the emergence of work and/or housing opportunities elsewhere in the inner-city, or just a general desire to move on with their lives and adopt a different lifestyle at a different stage in their lives (for those who reached their ‘30s inYeoville and wanted to settle down). This set of reasons is consistent across generations ofYeovillites, the earlier residents (pre WWII) insisting on their parents’ desire to move out of the neighborhood as a means of climbing the social ladder, an aspiration which can also be found in the aspirations of the more recent African migrants.

- the state of the housing market was also underlined: theredlining by banks of the neighborhood seems to have prevented interviewees (who otherwise would have remained) to buy property in the neighborhood (late 90s period).

- for the more recent migrants (early 2000s), thepressure of the community also played an important part in their decision to leave. WhileYeoville still remains for them a place where opportunities (for jobs, for information…) can be found thanks to the presence of the diasporas, the desire for anonymity and peace in their private lives was strong enough to trigger their move.

Finding otherYeovilles

Leaving the neighbourhood was not necessarily a deliberate action but a mix of reasons, often related to work constraints or opportunities (to go abroad to study for instance). In the interviewees residential trajectories within Johannesburg after Yeoville, several patterns can be traced:

- the desire tomove to a nicer, quieter, more settled neighbourhood (interviewees following a suburban trajectory), usually connected to a change in personal histories (getting married and having children in particular, buying a house...).

- the desire tofind a newYeoville elsewhere: artists and professionals mentioned Melville and as their new home and made direct comparisons (Melville stands out in several interviews as « the baby ofYeoville »): this is partly due to the fact that these neighbourhoods accommodated a large part of formerYeovillites who tended to recreate their former environment and public culture.

While some interviewees moved to more Northern areas of the city, a significant proportion of themremained in the inner city : it is particularly true of artists and academics, whose lifestyle and job opportunities remain tied to the city centre (Universities, TV production companies, etc). All interviewees nevertheless underlined thedifficulty of finding a neighbourhood with the same physical qualities asYeoville’s built environment: most of them complained aboutsuburban isolation , yet there was also a realisation thatYeoville time was over in their lives due to their own aging, and that times in general (meaning society, the country) had changed, making it impossible today to find a newYeoville.

Interpreting neighbourhood change and making sense of decay

The issue of thetransformation of the neighbourhood was present in most of our interviewees depiction ofYeoville today. WhileYeoville was hailed as one of the few mixed and tolerant neighbourhoods in Johannesburg, as people from all races would gather and socialise in its cafes, bars and nightclubs as early as the 1980s, the racial change in the actualresidents ofYeoville really occurred during the 1991-1996 period. The influx of migrants from the continent could also contribute (for our South African interviewees) to thisfeeling of profound change , and sometimes difficulty to relate to these new residents, along with an ever present evocation of decay in all its forms (of the built environment, when referring to the dirtiness of the place, etc.).These are mixed feelings, at times tempered by agenuine curiosity for the vibrancy of the new neighbourhoods, at times giving way to discourses of alienation.

The general feeling of adecaying neighbourhood is also strongly influenced by crime perceptions, and in this sense our South Africans and foreigner interviewees concur:crime is a major part of the narrative of '90s decline for neighbourhoods likeYeoville, but also for other neighbourhoods of the inner city.Yet, interpretations of crime, and thus decay and decline, remain linked to a personal experience (a mugging on the workplace, the witnessing of a murder in a block of flats, etc).The dates thus differ greatly when it comes to the interviewees' perception of the beginning of “decay”, ranging from 1991 to 2005.

Conceptualisation and realisation: Sophie Didier; Claire Bénit-Gbaffou Interviews and transcripts: Ophélie Arrazouaki,Thembani Mkhize; Willy-Claude Hebandjoko Mbelenge Original photographs: Lerato Maduna Layout: Werner Prinsloo

LeavingYeoville - 2011 Carin Roux

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1946 Place of Birth: Phillipolis, Free State Lived inYeoville: 1989-1991 Family status (then): divorced with two children Profession (then): school teacher Lives now: Montgomery Park Family status (now): divorced Profession (now): school teacher Lived (beforeYeoville): Linden Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Bez Valley, Westdene, Montgomery Park

“There was a nice mix of races that I liked because I came from a very White

suburban background and I wanted just to get away from that a bit. ”

How I moved in In 5 words… I got divorced, so I just went to live there because I wanted to, because it was very nice, I thought. Single mother, school teacher, it was a good time for me and a good place to try to get my feet back Yeoville then: in life, and I needed to get away from the way my life was in Linden. European cosmopolitan (Jews, French, Italians…), vibrant, lively, It was a very hard time for me, I struggled to overcome a lot of stuff in my personal life. Friends I had noisy in a nice way (music, people), in Linden never came to visit me inYeoville. entertaining Why I moved out Yeoville now: I wanted to buy a house that had a bit more space, also because the owners of our flat in Dunbar Rundown, cosmopolitan (African), Street, they redid it and kicked us out. this is a different place, a bit scary, crime, but still vibrant, very poor [I would have stayed in the neighborhood], but the banks were not giving loans inYeoville anymore, nor in Bertrams, and Berea, these neighborhoods were redlined, so I bought a house in Bez Valley. Current place: Suburban and quiet. Feels like Places I remember coming full circle. In our first flat, there was a long dark and cold corridor, and a biiiiiig kitchen at the end. I really loved it. We had a bird in the kitchen that sang, and the people living upstairs used to sing, they were opera WhatYeoville was for singers. me I remember the Greek restaurant with an open courtyard in the back where we used to go, and there It was a place that made me was music streaming there: there was a record shop in happy and where I really felt safe the courtyard. from the world because coming from a White suburban background I was feeling really Our second flat on Page st., it had Rockey: There was garbage in the entrance. But it was an open-air club on unsafe, I was so out of touch with a lovely building, we used to say Rockey street next reality and real people. And I felt that it felt like a seaside place to the garage, I it was dangerous to live in an all- used to like going White suburb because you know because it had wooden door there…. Jesus, I frames and there was this smell. can’t remember for nothing. the life of me the My best memory is walking with name of the open InYeoville, if you went out, there were always people in the streets: I liked the air café… I used to my daughter in Hunter st. to look shop at OK. They feeling of community. And it was easy to go to places: now if I want to go and buy at the graffiti on the wall there on just had the train groceries, I’ve got to travel 4 kms till the nearest store. I liked the sense of freedom Sundays and look at who’s painting restaurant there, I that my children were getting inYeoville. remember that. what. There was a road My mother was a real conservative South African conservative. She visited me in I remember the Italian garage, that went up like the flat in Dunbar street and the flat behind me, quite a lot of Black people had there was a beautiful Italian man that: I used to drive moved in. She said “Goodness, the people inYeoville have a lot of servants!” up there because there. And Mama’s Pizza, very that was the area Italian, there was a red checked with lovely blocks By the time we left,Yeoville was on the cusp of a change from suburbian flatlands table cloth, and Mama used to of flats. to the way it is now. I had the sense of things changing. come out of the kitchen when you complained about something. There weren’t tha tmany Italian places in Joburg and people used to come from the Northern suburbs there. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Kathy Davidson

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1965 Lived inYeoville: 1986-1992 Family status (then): single, living in a shared flat Profession (then): Wits student and aspiring teacher Lives now: North Family status (now): divorced with children Profession (now): leadership trainer Lived (beforeYeoville): , Cape Town (studies) Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Melville, Parkview, Parkwood, , Parktown North

At Cracker’s Deli on Rockey with a friend: « Many of us who used to go to Jameson’s on a Friday night, used to go to crakers in the late morning Sitting (left) with a friend in the back garden of 22 Page with big street, the commune where everybody would hang out. hangovers for breakfast. » “People were very extreme in Yeoville. ”

WhatYeoville was for me In 5 words… A normal life could have been having a nine to five job and living in a White area and Places I remember listening to more mainstream music. And the other, theYeoville life, it represented a lot Yeoville then: of people unemployed, a lot of people with ideals, who wouldn’t compromise things…. There was a house we would go to on Page street, and eclectic; vibrant; colourful; exciting (there They wouldn’t follow the established order. Not that I was one of them, I was hanging on James Philips, the leader of the band called the Cherry was always something happening); very the fringes. Faced Lurches lived there, a group of different people safe. lived there, journalists, various band members, we On Sundays I would go home for lunch with my family in a quiet suburb and afterwards used to spend a lot of time just hanging out at their go back toYeoville [laughs]. I was Yeoville now: place, doing nothing. probably closer to the conservative I don’t know if I’m the right person to say, The places I remember are Rockey, going to the clubs suburb continuum because I am quite a I haven’t really been in there, I just drive During the week, I would work at home, in our flat. I and bars, Clousseau’s, Rumours, and then later the conservative at heart. And that’s what I by…. African; colourful and diverse in a went shopping at Checker’s on Rockey or going to the Harbour Café, Bapita. loved aboutYeoville, it just gave me different way; more dangerous than it bank. Then, generally on Friday afternoon, I would go excitement that otherwise I would was then. to Page street. We used to mostly hang out at each Here was my flat, in Carmel Court, over the road from other’s houses. And the nights, we were going out. the park which was also somewhere where we spent probably not have had. Someone like a lot of time. James Philips, he wouldn’t wear shoes, Current place: (Parktown North) The police station was here, I remember once I had to he wouldn’t earn money, he wouldn’t Leafy; dominantly White; quiet; safe; high The streets, they never went to sleep. I think the only run across the park and go there because someone compromise anything, he expected walls. time you sawYeoville dead was at 4 in the morning, was being murdered in our block. people to just take care of him. but if you’d come alive again in the morning, everybody with the hangover would go and have I remember I was talking with friends on the week breakfast. The streets were always full of people.You end, we were reminiscing aboutYeoville, and they all We were all living in communes, and we shared the same sense that we didn’t had stories to tell about spraying graffiti everywhere support the government. We were protesting in a different way from standard would also see these old Jewish women walking down and doing all sorts of things like bieng locked up in political protesters. We had… probably not as many as we could have had, but the road, to go and do shopping, that was nice. That Harbour Café because they were so drunk that they we did have friends of other races: this you couldn’t do easily in the other also lent an element of safety. couldn’t drive [chuckles] and the guy who owned the suburbs. But still, we were more White than mixed… bar just locked them in… . We used to drink a lot. Every Friday How I moved in night and Saturday night we were out, I was an English teacher at a school in Berea, which is the next coming home late, then I’d have a door suburb, and I was still at University at Wits. I shared a flat with hangover and I’d be trying to work. I a friend. And I was also waitressing in the area to make money. was always torn between my needing to do my work and wanting to just have fun. I used to struggle with being very Why I moved out serious and trying to do a good job, All the time while I was teaching, I was waitressing, and I was being a teacher, which I found very working at a restaurant in Melville and a flat became available in demanding, but there was always some this block on top of the restaurant. excitement, something happening. I think that’s the thing that is very But also, I think I had reached the point… Some people had started different from my life now. My life now moving out ofYeoville. And I had also reached a point where I is very monotonous, but also you know, wanted to live in a bit of a cleaner and safer place. It started to feel I am older. less safe, and when this flat in Melville became available, it was just perfect. And Melville was lovely, then as well it felt a bit likeYeoville There was a feeling of promise, you but not quite… I did feel like a defector though. know, which in your Forties you don’t have anymore. LeavingYeoville - 2011 CliveChipkin

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1929 Place of Birth:Yeoville Lived inYeoville: 1929-1949 Family status (then): living with parents as a child and teenager Lives now: Hyde Park Family status (now): married, lives with wife Valerie Profession (now): architect / writer Lived (beforeYeoville): NA Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Park

Bentley Phillips and Clive Chipkin in front of no. 14, St Georges Street.

“My father always dreamed of moving to the Craighall area. Most of the people

of Yeoville wished to move out. It was a suburb of great ambition. ”

How I moved in I was born inYeoville. Several members of the family lived nearby. We lived in Bedford road, and my aunt lived in St Georges street and my grandmother had a quite a large house.

Why I moved out My father bought a stand in , right near the little koppie, where he'd gone for walks Bentley Phillips: when he was young. It was just a natural impulse Born 1929 inYeoville, moved out in My friend Bentley Phillips was born in to go to a better suburb. The fact that my this house… 31 Muller. He lived there daughter moved back is a different concept all 1959. from 1929 to 1959 then he got married. He was one of Clive Chipkin’s together. She was aiming for a quality. It didn't schoolmates. Now an M.D. and Yeoville was linked by trams: it was a allow heads to think like that. Physician practising in Rosebank. wonderful thing, the trams….You didn’t need to own a car, you could go everywhere with trams. Places I remember Yeoville was much more rural. My grandmother’s Scotch Corner:The owner was Mr Reid, house at 93 Francis had stables, no horses in my and he flew the Scottish flag.The rooms time, but she had a cow. And the cow used to walk on top were for poor people. [Next to it] down to what is today the Observatory golf was a garage, I used to pump my course and graze there. So there was a more rural bicycle tyres here.Then in 1942, they In 5 words… atmosphere. turned it into a cinema, Piccadilly Cinema. Yeoville then: It was a lovely middle class suburb, little detached A middle class suburb between the Yeoville Grounds: it wasn’t very posh, it houses, with verandas that faced the street and ridges; big schools nearby; didn’t have grass then. people, a lot of social life occurred on the Catholic institutions - even though we veranda… you sat on the stoep and watched the were Jewish, my aunts went to street. It was a white suburb. It was a completely Catholic schools. WhatYeoville was for me segregated suburb, with a large black population A route to other destinations; A large part of my life was our working, as called that time, servants. They lived I loved theYeoville library; family… We were always together on the premises, in little back rooms. TheYeoville synagogue, but it's closed with my school friends. We spent a lot of the time laughing, sometimes lying on the floor laughing. Life seemed to be down, it is now an Ethiopian church. a very funny process. There was a certain amount of anti Semitism in the school, not a great deal, a little. and we Yeoville had a large Jewish population but it also used to think it was the funniest thing on earth. It was just hilarious, but it wasn't severe because there was sufficient had large Anglican and Catholic institutions. Our Craighall Park: goodwill to feel unconcerned. house was opposite and often my grandfather used to go play cards at night, so my grandmother English speaking, very few Jewish used to ask me to come and sleep over and my people, no synagogue. Quiet, very My grandmother had a young man from KwaZulu working for her, his name was George and my grandmother’s room was right next to the Catholic church and quiet. Gentle, well mannered; middle English wasn't very good and nor was Georges. So my grandmother shouted at him inYiddish and he shouted at her the noise of the bells on a Sunday morning was class, shopping mall oriented in Zulu. So it was like a comedy of errors. shattering, because it started at 6 o clock, calling There wasn't a conscious awareness that this was a very unfair society. The young black workers would dress up on a people. And there was also an important Sunday, form a band, and march down the street with sticks and whistles and shouting. They were called amalita. Presbyterian church. So it was quite mixed but And that was the youth, the young black youth asserting their manhood. And we took it for granted. When a visitor came they said it was frightening. It wasn't with a discernable Jewish population. frightening at all. They never assaulted anybody. It was their manhood assertion that they too had rights. But not political rights. They were not a political leadership.

I was young and enjoying life. But I could see the world. For example we had around the corner Indian tailors.They were Hindu, and they taught me a lot about their religion, very gentle people… And our family also knew Mahatma Gandhi. He walked through the streets. He had a big influence on me on just the decency of life. How to live life in a decent way. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Georgette Adjoba

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1972 Place of Birth: Ivory Coast Lived inYeoville: 2001-2003 Family status (then): married, 1 child in Ivory Coast Profession (then): housewife, then property manager Lives now: Lindhurst Family status (now): married, child at university in SA Profession (now): International Relations Officer Lived (beforeYeoville): Ivory Coast Moved to (after leavingYeoville): , Bramley, Lindhurst

Photo: Elisabeth Letlhaku

“In Yeoville, you find yourself as if you were at home. ”

How I moved in [In the Ivorian House where my husband was lodging when he was waiting for me to come to SA], there were between fifteen and twenty lodgers.There was five or six rooms altogether. The only part I liked, was that I did not have to share my privacy, i.e. my husband and I had our own toilets and shower.You are surrounded by noise, sometimes quarrels, sometimes by bad words. I arrived from my world into this world, it was like a jungle but it gave me the opportunity to become who I am today.

After six months I had a home of my own. The owner of my house was a Jew who owned five buildings inYeoville, and he was looking for someone to do the admin for them. He really was an understanding old man, I always had my dictionary by my side and when we had problems understanding each other, he would open it to tell me what he wanted. This is how I started learning English with him, easily, automatically, while I was working.

Why I moved out I was mugged [in the workplace], someone pointed a gun to my head: one of the buildings was full of Zimbabweans and these people owed money to the owner. Instead of taking it on him, they took it on me. I was pregnant then and lost the child in my fright. It really put a toll on me. I said I didn’t want to work there anymore and when I got a job somewhere else, In 5 words… the owner was very frustrated and started to give me problems. I decided to leave. When you haven’t worked for six Yeoville then: months, and you find your first job, you are happy, you really The beginning of my career; family; Africa; a little deliver, you love your job… but insecurity forced me to leave. dangerous; the good life I also spent a lot of time in church, the World of Life Assembly. Places I remember Yeoville now I only walked down Rockey, straight, just like my husband told me to do.To go to Degraded; changed; makes me sad; solidarity due Every Friday afternoon and Sunday, I went to church. And Checker’s, to go to Shoprite, everything. then after church we often used to go to Ivorian House to eat to the fact there are more foreigners now attiéké, at least to say hello, and afterwards we left. When I Kin Malebo: it was a famous place, everybody talked about it. I knew about it, and that’s needed to do some shopping, I would go to the African Current place: (Lyndhurst) it, I never actually went there, never, never! I was curious, but my husband doesn’t like this kind of crowd. market, where I could find plantain, African spices, maggi It’s beautiful; clean; quiet; secure; with respectful aromat, everything. I buy my tomatoes, my spinach, people living there everything, I can find everything inYeoville. WhatYeoville was for me It was really a very good neighborhood. I will always remember it.Yeoville is a At the crossroads, when I was walking from my home, there was a Portuguese shop, and people were saying that the lower class neighborhood, but the buildings, the streets, these were really Portuguese were armed, so there was no crime there, no assaults happening. And then there were the taxis parked here: beautiful.You really felt like staying there. where there was a group of taxis, my husband told me the criminals would be scared to go because taxi drivers are always armed. He also told me, for your safety, do not take side streets. Rockey, it was my main road, I got to know it very well. Since I had just arrived, I did not speak English, my husband was going to work every day so he told me I should not leave the house by myself. I was always at I used to love to watch from my window in the morning and see the parents bring their kids to school (Observatory Girls’). home. I only went out when I was with someone who could accompany me to At the beginning, I didn’t speak English. I see a kid crying, the mother is leaving and the kid runs to kiss her good bye. And go to Shoprite, to Checker’s or to the African market. The first six months I had I hear “Come and give me a hug!”. What does it mean? I take my dictionary, I look up “hug”, oh, hug, c’est l’accolade, ok! no other outdoors activity, only the shops, the market and my home and then every Sunday we went to church [in Germiston]. Yeoville in fact, I can’t tell you what I miss from it. Maybe it’s the fraternity, maybe it’s my old memories that I am trying to find again, maybe that’s what I am missing, but it’s not much. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Happy Dhlame

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1979 Place of Birth: Lived inYeoville: 1999 Family status (then): single Profession (then): emerging artist Lives now: Melville Family status (now): single with partner Profession (now): artist/ painter Lived (beforeYeoville): Soweto Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Switzerland, France, then Melville

“It was one of those places where everyone wanted to be. Especially

when you’re 18 and upwards, you know. ”

How I moved in WhatYeoville was for Times Square was just a place of gathering, meetings and all…Then I had friends around and I ended up staying with me Tandoor, entertainment, but it was more a friend. I stayed for a year but I went back to I was still aspiring. Like I was like a conscious place you know, we’d talk Soweto because I also felt like... yeah, it was too still upcoming, I liked art and I about politics. We’d talk about the country. much those days and I didn't have really money was a student, and I always Piccadilly night club: fun, you know, alcohol, girls and all that [laughs] to support myself. So the best way was just to wanted to find myself next to return home and build it up from home. people who were above me, who were really practicing that Why I moved out those days… I used to spend In 5 words… I left the country at some point, for many years. most of the time mingling Things were changing for everyone. Many around with friends and Yeoville then: people leftYeoville, now some are based abroad, learning a lot from people who Cultural hub- some are married, some are working… were also big at that time and creativity- coming up. innovation; The majority leftYeoville because of the University of the transition, slowly more people come in, maybe Stuff was happening. If you street; you feel uncomfortable or you feel like you were studying film or Catalyst; wanna grow or change place, sometimes you practicing film you would Clean; need that in life.You wanna be different. At some make films. If you were a Free point people gotta move on, you know, in life. painter you'd paint. Those things would be shared Yeoville now amongst them, so it forms that culture of Yeoville where African food; everyone knows each other and everyone belongs to that French language; culture because of all of them are practicing that very same art. Vibrant; Most of the people that came from that place are one of the Different; South African pillars. Meaning they're doing things. They’re out Litter / rubbish there. everywhere Tandoor, Picadilly,Times Square… Ja, those were the places that I was kind of mostly People were more free, visiting in terms of having fun, meeting people were very Current place: people and all that. A bunch of friends, expressive about what (Melville) rastas… and activists, artists: it was also a they perceived around conscious place you know, we’d talk about Culture; politics. SoTandoor it’s one of the key areas them, political it is still white because it’s still alive even today. constraints, what was people owning happening, but they property; were also free to actually expensive - if you go escape the box where they felt: ‘fuck, it is just about time!’ to Melville you have to have money; And in terms of entertainment, it's one of the places you would Yeoville’s baby; go to to have fun… There were really good places you would go Central – between and dance, just like excrete whatever that was going through, city centre and just take it out. And that was also another way of celebrating northern suburbs that. But at the same time it wasn't just gathering parties. I was just observing what these guys used to talk about, politically and culturally...it was just for me, it was a learning curve where I felt like it was a university of the street. LeavingYeoville - 2011 IvorChipkin

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1970 Place of Birth:Troyeville Lived inYeoville: 1992-1996 Family status (then): single/ living in commune Profession (then): researcher/activist (PLANACT) Lives now: Family status (now): married with child Profession (now): academic Lived (beforeYeoville): Kenya Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Paris (study); Parktown, ; the UK (job); then Emmarentia

“I remember feeling very free… Ordinary living was very radical in some

sense. We were exploring a whole new way of being. ”

I had a car accident a the How I moved in corner of Izipingo and Bezuidenhout street, the For years I had been going toYeoville.The word that we used in the 1980's,"jolling"… lamppost and the wall… It was Even at school, we were going toYeoville to jol. There were some fantastic bars and pretty much a turning point in fantastic clubs. So when I came back from Kenya, it had become a natural place. Lots my life. of my friends lived inYeoville. And my sister actually used to live there, not far, just up the road. There was a great bookshop managed by Dale McKinley who at the time was a member Why I moved out of the Communist Party, now I had a car accident in 1996…, ja, a very big one. When I came out, I moved to a house he’s head of the Anti Privatization Forum. with a friend of mine from Kenya, just on Louis Botha. It was 1996, ‘97. Then I went to France directly from that house. Our house became a kind of pub… really, anyone from In 5 words… anywhere in the world, could wake up there... There were always people in my house from God knows where. It was really, we had a lot of fun. We drank a lot, smoked a lot. People Yeoville then: smoked marijuana but not heavy drugs. When I came back Radical; Exhilarating; Obvious place to be; from Paris,Yeoville was tough. Free; Safe I don't go there now. But it’s not only aboutYeoville. My life is Yeoville now also very different. Children, and... I don't go out much Tough; Drugs anymore. But I mean I did go out. What happened was a lot of the oldYeoville shifted to Melville. Melville will be never the Current place: (Emmarentia) same asYeoville; but the oldYeoville part went into Melville. Places I remember WhatYeoville was for me Suburban; Beautiful park; Quiet; Bourgeois; Jewish/ Muslim communities- We moved to a building We were spending a lot of time in I lovedYeoville. I loved living inYeoville. I knew lots and diverse and changing. called San Remo which Tandoor, a great club… There was a lots of people. One was sure to meet someone one was a lovely Art Deco place called Rumors, with a knew. building. I shared a flat wonderful band. I think when I first and it was a blast.There started listening to Jazz, it was in My life changed dramatically when I moved into a building called San Remo... I knew lots of people in the was a real sense of Yeoville.There were new bands building, we were a kind of community. I had a fantastic time, a fantastic time. We were all politically active. community in the coming out, all of which was I worked for an organization called Planact, which was a group of urbanists involved against apartheid. building. happening inYeoville. So life was a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking, a lot It was a very alive place. Astonishingly, all very diverse. It was racially mixed.The fact of just being in this place was a political of partying, a lot of people, a lot of deviance. Meeting in the bars, meeting in cafes, was just presumed as misconduct.That was very exciting. sex. In those days mixing, having a mixed circle of friends, was radical stuff. When I was at a mixed school, and we went to the cinema There was these small old remnants together, it was wild stuff.You would get into fights. This was the most outrageous country: the most ordinary things were the of a very old Jewish community, most radical things. It was kind of permitted, it was allowed. In other words, the police wouldn't arrest people inYeoville. So it was which was my history. My father was a kind of free zone. And I don't remember there being a centre of crime. We used to walk around at night, drunk: we use to roll born inYeoville, just from around the home. corner where I lived… I had my Bar Mitzvah at the synagogue,Yeoville It’s difficult not to be romantic about it. And of course that romanticism is related to youth, being young. It was the promise of synagogue, at my family synagogue. post-apartheid non-racialism. We were very naive… I remember feeling very free. One could be ‘not white’ in that space. Free of being… a sense of, this is what the new was going to be like. We were wrong. Really wrong. There were all kinds of left-wing book shops, and I would buy. I I felt for the first time that I was part of the majority not the minority. I’d always been bought books of famous kind of left in my family. I was now part of the majority of people that looked for some publishers.... They were selling Marx, sort of democratic revolution. And that seemed to be the norms and values ofYeoville. I mean this was wildly radical. For the first time in my life that I felt I was part of the majority. That was exhilarating. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Naomi Roux

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1982 Place of Birth: Linden, Johannesburg Lived inYeoville: 1989-1992 Family status (then): living with mother and brother Profession (then): school child Lives now: UK Family status (now): single Profession (now): researcher / Phd candidate Lived (beforeYeoville): Linden Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Bez Valley, Westdene, Montgomery Park, Grahamstown, Rosebank, Highlands North, Orange Grove, now in the UK

“Yeoville was my whole world… It may be pretty much the same way

that anyone feels about the place where they grew up. ”

In 5 words… How I moved in The reason that we moved there in the first place is because my parents got divorced. Places I remember Yeoville then: We lived in the suburb of Linden before that. Both my parents moved toYeoville but to separate flats. So I stayed with my mom in a flat on the corner of Dunbar and I think De The old water tower.You know that red one, that looks like a (as a child): La Rey. martian spaceship. That Victorian water tower thing up on the Home, my whole world hill… My dad was fascinated with that, because he collected (as a teenager): Why I moved out comic books and he was into science fiction. He read me War of Edgy, rebellious, exciting the Worlds, and then took me to look at this water tower, and It was actually quite exciting because the reason we moved out was because my mom went ‘doesn't this look just like the space ships in the book’? Yeoville now: had bought a house. Up till then we'd just been living in flats and we'd been renting. So I remember her making quite a big deal of the fact that she'd now bought this house and Creative; We lived right across a it was ours. Chaotic; sweet shop, a corner It was a house with a garden and we were gonna get Transitional; cafe that sold sweets pets, so I don't remember it with sadness, I remember it Multicultural – mix of flavours; and comics and stuff, as quite exciting. Busy and that was the most magical place ever. Current place: My Dad lived up the hill towards the Southern end of Yeoville on Minors street, then to Kate street, and then for a Suburban; My mom would take very short time on what is now Joe Slovo drive, and I’d got Quiet; me and a friend to the to spend week ends at my dad’s flat. We sort of shifted swimming pool. That's Orderly; around. Big walls, electric fences- isolation; the pool where I learned to swim. It was Safe Sooo, Rockey….There was one place with a pool table, a very scary and a big weird place behind a car garage, it was very dubious. And I deal for me. I remember Cracker’s Deli, also a couple of bookshops and a WhatYeoville was for me shop that sold this amazing handmade paper. remember that pool I was little so everything that I remember being about the size of from then filtered through that lens. I the Pacific Ocean. So remember it as a child. It was my whole world… because my mom was there, my dad was there, I’d that was really weird to go spend weekends at my dad’s flat. There were some parks but there was the one block where we see it again as a lived that had a sort of yard around the outside. I went to school inYeoville. So I remember being grownup and say ‘oh, quite bounded to that neighbourhood. Every thing that was important happened in that space. it's a normal sized swimming pool!’ I remember spending a lot of time playing; we had this yard outside the block of flats where we lived… we were on the ground floor flat, we had a really tiny one, the garden was maybe like the I remember my older size of my desk. brother taking me to mama's pizzeria, on When I was a little bit older, as a teenager … by the time I wasn't living inYeoville anymore, but I Rockey street. I was going to school in Observatory, occasionally my friends and I we'd walk from Observatory into remember having a Yeoville, into Rockey street after school and think we were very rebellious and cool and like go and glass of iced tea which play pool…It was a quite cool edgy place to hang out, you know. And when you’re actually a little was pretty much like bit too young to be like hanging out in pool bars and that kind of thing, it seems very cutting edge. the most exotic thing I’d ever guzzled in my That is when there was this drug related shooting that happened around ‘96 and it sort of started life. to feel a less safe place to go. I guess that would’ve probably been the period when a lot of people who’d lived there in the 80’s and 90’s were moving out.. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Oy-Ling Booth

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1982 Place of Birth: Johannesburg Lived inYeoville: 1990-2001 Family status (then): a child living with her family Profession (then): school child Lives now: Parkhurst Family status (now): single Profession (now): office manager Lived (beforeYeoville): Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Surrey, London, Spain, Cayman Islands, London, Parkhurst

“Everyone was quite hippy like, you were quite free to do as you

pleased. But obviously, maybe there was someone watching me all the

time to keep an eye that I didn't get out of line. ” Sacred Heart College “Joey & the Magic Carpet show”, 1991. “We were Jamaican, we had fruits How I moved in Mama’s pies… I on our heads and black faces.The African people wish that was still also had black faces: we loved it, we were like My dad's Dojo for karate was in Doornfontein and we open…That was “Ah! I look like you now!”. We were supposed to lived there. The business wasn't doing so well in the the most authentic be one of the most PC schools back then because area, so we moved to a new house inYeoville while Italian restaurant before, we were one of the only schools that moving the business there. ever! were taking all colours during apartheid.” We just walked A lot of my family lived in the area, especially my past Observatory mother's youngest brother. He was a jeweller, he had Girls’ and always WhatYeoville was for me long hair, he looked like a Maori from New Zealand, looked at girls in I was very young… Every year they had a flea because of the mix. Always in shorts and flip flops and the blue uniform. market where they closed the streets off, and tie-dyeT-shirts. I remember going over there and he At the top of the it was very, very vibey. At that point, you could would always cook for us, samp and beans, I know it's a hill was Mons just run around.You're carefree and you don't very African dish but he would cook it for us. Noodles, road, I remember care about anything. It was fun for me, the that cause we and he loved his chillies, very spicy stuff, lots of 'Mardi Gras'. All these events we would get, my walked this way to barbeques … He would invite everybody and all of the get to school and friends and I used to get together and the family. My mom's one of 7 children, she had 4 brothers there were these adults could have their fun, they could go who stayed in South Africa. The younger brother was dogs that my mom drinking and dance and just be silly, like always a bachelor. So everybody always used to come used to feed ice children, and then so could we as well. And over and he would cook and we'd just watch movies. cream to. they wouldn't worry about us. So it was fun, it was free. Why I moved out I left personally in 2001, when I travelled with my best friend to Places I remember Where I lived was just literally a street away from everything, it England. I used to spend most of my time at my uncle's house which was on Hunter was just basically walking to and from home and school. I Street, which is directly in the middle of everything now, where Times Square remember the colours and all that… This is whatYeoville The family only officially moved out beginning of 2010 and our is. It's an amazing place with lots of shops and things. Now I think it's just run reminds me of, everything was so colourful for me. house is actually still for sale, because there aren't any buyers. At by Nigerians with lots of little telephone shops and things like that. least now in Parkhurst, my There was this little shop stocking school uniforms. As a mom can just walk up the Lots of little niche little bars. Lots of pubs and I teenager it was my first experience of working in an adult place road, to the main street with remember, especially when we were playing dealing with other kids my age calling me Ma'am. I was like 'why all the shops and the outside with my friends, my dad and my uncles are you calling me ma'am?'. I came across President Zuma's restaurants and my father used to go to the pub. I was never allowed to go children coming into the store; one of them was in our class. It doesn't have to worry. inside because I was quite young. But I mean, it was about 1998. He used to bring him with his body guards and was probably better that I didn't. made sure there was no one around. They cordoned everything off and then I was the one that had to serve him. My school was also around the block, so I In 5 words… always remember walking... I remember Rockey street, 1992. My best once walking to my uncle's house, and I friend and me in similar attire. got shouted at. It was very close, I knew We would usually walk Yeoville then: everywhere, and I'm quite sure Free; Fun; Cheap; Home; the directions myself, but I think I must've we would've done some grocery Family; Colourful ; Hippy. only been about 7 and I shouldn't have shopping at OK Bazaar and make Yes, these are words that done that… It was like you could walk to a stop at the CNA before heading back up to . I had sum up a hippy to me: they're and from school up until what ? 97/98… We stopped walking… We stopped walking. probably just got the cheapy colourful, they're free, they're cheap. They're happy and yeah, camera, that the pic was taken they're fun. with, the previous Christmas. So TheYeoville that my parents lived in was very different obviously. we had to take a picture in front Yeoville now But then they lived through apartheid... My mother is part Chinese of this colourful background. Entrepreneur; Hopeful; Energetic; Secure; Lively so they weren't allowed to get married in South Africa. They had to go to Swaziland to get married and they Current place: (Parkhurst) lived inYeoville, they lived in Berea, they lived in Hillbrow, they always had to move around. Family orientated; Picket Fences; Hipsters; Fashionable; Eclectic LeavingYeoville - 2011 Président Kouamé

Bio details

Place of Birth: Ivory Coast Lived inYeoville: 2007 Family status (then): living with partner Profession (then): security in bars Lives now: Balfour Park Family status (now): single Profession (now): security Lived (beforeYeoville): one year on the road in Africa from Ivory Coast to SA Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Faraday, Kensington, Limpopo, Bez Valley, Rosebank, Balfour Park The owner and cook, Gaba’s restaurant

“Yeoville is the neighborhood that opened the doors for me, the doors

to my economic freedom. ”

How I moved in In 5 words… I arrived in Johannesburg by road. I was dropped at 22H00 in downtown Joburg and Yeoville 2007 and now: there, I met a Mozambican lady and asked Where you have fun; “Sorry, could you help me get to my dangerous; Embassy?” She said no, she doesn’t know a neighborhood of foreigners; where it is. She sent me to a hotel one of the hottest neighborhoods in downtown, the Diplomat Bar. I spent the JHB; night there and the next morning, I heard full of life someone speak French, a Congolese lady. I said “Sorry, do you know an Ivorian to whom I could speak here?”. She said no, Current place: Ivorians are inYeoville. And then she sent Very quiet ; me to an Ivorian who was running a take quite classy / Middle-class ; away inYeoville. White / Jewish; secure ; [the Ivorian who ran the restaurant] said I don’t go out in the neighborhood, I that he could not accommodate me in his only sleep there. house. There was a young Malian, a patron of the restaurant, who said he was unable to pay rent on his own. The house was R1200 and he said “there will be three of us, we will share the rent”.

Why I moved out WhatYeoville was (and still is) for me The young Malian died.The house belonged to a South African lady married to a This is really a neighbourhood full of life: people can bump into each other, rub against each Nigerian. The Nigerian came, and said “get out of the house”. By the end of the other, a Malian with an Ivorian, an Ivorian with a Cameroonian, a Cameroonian with another month, I asked after a small house close by, since I like my independence.The rent was one and still, we are friendly to each other. It is a neighbourhood where people share, they R350 a month. share life, they share stress, they share their problems, they share their joy, together.

When I am there, I feel at ease, I forget what sadness is like, I forget the stress of South Africa, Places I remember I let go. It is a neighborhood where you can have fun and it is where one feels most at ease The most animated and dangerous street in South Africa is Rockey Street inYeoville. since we are all foreigners. And when it’s dark, the nights are hot since there are a lot of bars and shebeens along the street. I am still there, I don’t live there anymore but I am still inYeoville. I cannot spend two days without being inYeoville.Yeoville in a way is my HQ because this is where I make my When I was inYeoville, I used to go to bars, I used to go to restaurants, and to the gym. contacts. When someone is looking for me, I invite him inYeoville. We sit down and talk We had a little corner called L’Ambassade where an Ivorian brother used to sell. We either in Times Square or in Nando’s. often used to meet there and talk, we tried to decrypt the news coming from the country. My best memory, is that when I arrived, it didn’t take me long to find a job.

The Ivorian House, there is Gaba and there is Suzanne. When you get there, often on Sundays, Fridays and Saturdays, we drink, we have fun, we eat attiéké, we talk. It’s a place of reunion: to have a beer, to eat Ivorian food, to remember our homeland. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Sean James

Bio details

Lived inYeoville: 1997-2000, on and off 2000-2005 Family status (then): married with 4 children Profession (then): security agent (clubs and restaurants) Lives now: Regent’s Park Family status (now): children moved out (Durban, Krugersdorp), grandchildren. Lives with daughter due to serious illness. Profession (now): unemployed Lived (beforeYeoville): Kensington Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Bez Valley, now temporarily in Regent’s Park

“I could go to restaurants if I wanted to. If I felt like going to a club, I

could go to a club. If I wanted to just stay at home, I could stay at

home and have a braai in my backyard. ”

WhatYeoville was for me How I moved in Most of my night was taken up sitting at bars and clubs here and eating out or having supper or It was only after I left school and started working that I moved intoYeoville. I dancing or whatever with my wife at the time. And yeah, we entertained, we were out of the house. wanted to be self supporting. I was working at the Old Johannesburg Hospital Only very late in life did we actually get aTV. which is down the road. I didn't have to use any money to get there, and in any case I wasn’t earning much. Those years I was actually very well known in the area because of my security work and also because I had a lot of dealings with the South Why I moved out African police. I used to work with them when it came to club related We lived a very peaceful and happy life here. As soon as it started issues, restaurant. I also used to assist the owners. Because a lot of the changing and the more elegant of the restaurants started closing owners of the places were eitherYugoslavian or Tchecoslovakian and down, I decided to make a move. Because that's more or less they weren't totally familiar with the area, they needed some support when the drug scene really… My eldest daughter unfortunately from the local people that they'd employed. fell into a trap of drug abuse. I decided to get my family out of here before it got chronic. One had to live in those times to know exactly how pleasurable it was It was around that time that we had a family disagreement. I came [living inYeoville]. I found it extremely desirable, it was, to get and lived with a friend of mine till we had sorted out our situation, anywhere there was constant public transport so I didn't have a and then I moved back home again… Then we moved to Bez problem with getting anywhere. I didn't own a car when I stayed here Valley. But I’ve always stayed in close proximity toYeoville so I had to use public because we used this as an entertainment hub. transport and that, well the buses and I never had a I’d say probably about 1999, 2000, it started changing problem with it. And that dramatically. The criminal elements started to take control of the was 7 days a week. place and there were a lot of break-ins in the flats, there was a lot of muggings in the street. It was petty crime, but to the extent Places I remember that people didn’t really want to stay in the area. Even up to now, I Yeoville was a very open, come back regularly and take a walk around with my family and vibrant area that had flea I’ve never had a bad moment, and everything still seems very markets and open bars vibrant and up and about. But the other big thing now is that the with seating on the drug situation is very bad. pavements for people to have lunches. It was very It's just that it's not a place to bring up a white family… Put it that relaxed. It was a very open way. I'm being partially, I wouldn't say racist, I’m just saying, a white family isn't really related to, most 24/7 type nightlife… of these people are from East Africa and Senegal, Nigeria, Congo,… we've got a lot of foreign people This whole street, from living in the area and they sort of don't mix easily with other... So, for language things like that, there here right down Rockey is a, I’d say a small barrier. I think both parties, both the foreigners coming in here and the locals feel street, used to be pubs, somewhat, I suppose you could call it embarrassed… English pubs and they used to have different I feel silly now speaking to you although you can understand I’m not... I don't really have a, how can I restaurants, French, say, a barrier against other race groups or colors, that's their choice. I mean my eldest daughter is Portuguese, Italians and so married to a Colored chap and my son has got this little black girlfriend from Kwazulu Natal. And I on and that's all gone by don't, I haven't got a the way side. It's become a problem with it.You know, very African sort of setup it's one of those things. here now. Things are changing. LeavingYeoville - 2011 Solam Mkhabela

Bio details

Date of Birth: 1967 Lived inYeoville: 1996-1999 (but first visit 1986, 1992) Family status (then): single Profession (then): film maker, DJ Lives now: Melville Family status (now): lives with partner and son Profession (now): architect / urbanist / designer Lived (beforeYeoville): Cape Town, Swaziland, NewYork Moved to (after leavingYeoville): Cape Town, Sydenham, , Melville

“At Times Square I met all my heroes, basically. ”

In 5 words… How I moved in Because my mom lived there. Truly it felt like coming back home. If one could call South Africa home, but it felt like that. Yeoville then: Being amongst people that you love, people that understand you, and speak the same Exciting; language as you. It did feel like coming back home to people that were ultimately going to I hate to use this word but, hopeful; shape the future of our country. Vibrant; Those people tended to stick to each other; at the time I didn’t see a problem with it, but in Amazing street life; hindsight I can say that we didn’t really mix with the local community. Started to get a little bit grimy. Why I moved out Yeoville now: To go to school, in Cape Town. When I came back from Cape Town, around 2004, all my Different. It feels more like Africa friends had leftYeoville. than South Africa; There’s nothing that draws me toYeoville now and I am not at that age where I go to those Congested; clubs, it’s still there but I don’t go to night clubs anymore. The fact is that none of my friends “Yeoville under the Surface” Run down; are there. I still love the place; don’t get me wrong I think it’s beautiful. It’s still very vibrant WhatYeoville was for me Current place: There were a lot of exiles coming back to South Africa. I moved to Melville, which reminds So it was a time when you met people that had been in me ofYeoville a little bit. Because of other countries and were coming back, and everybody the streets, I like the streets, that’s had these stories and everybody had this hope.The where life happens really, that’s discussions were just different to pre-apartheid where where you see things. they were mostly political.These discussions were about hope, about a new country and ultimately what jobs people were going to have.

Places I remember These were slightly different people who had now The apartment was called Saint John’s witnessed otherness in other countries; so to go to malls View. I liked it because it was bigger was not really their thing to do than the apartment I lived in, in New York, and it had a very nice view, I Everyone I knew lived inYeoville. I mean that never mean, it’s called Saint John’s View for a hardly ever happens.You know what I mean, you can reason. grow up in a city and people live all over the place but literally every one that was very close to me lived At Times Square, there was Catalyst aroundYeoville.That wasYeoville for me. films. It was a film production house. They were very active for the post apartheid South Africa. That’s when people were still formulating the youth radio stations,Y-FM… Through Times Square, a lot of very artistic and It felt like a little small village. Where you could walk to your friends’ intellectual people would meet. Musicians, writers, poets, film-makers,… it was very vibrant. It was like a hub house to have a party and BBQ on a Saturday afternoon, or watch a of creativity. Times Square, very beautiful, very beautiful. game of soccer with them, and you did not need to get in a car.

In 1992, a friend of mine took me to her house her father had bought inYeoville. During apartheid, I was never in the white areas, I didn’t know places like Houghton and Rosebank existed with their trees and beautiful houses. So, when she showed me this house…, I mean I was used to a four roomed house. And I looked at this house, wooden floors, impressive. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. LeavingYeoville - 2011