Project 10 - My Yeoville

One of Johannesburg’s oldest suburbs and long-time home to Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, Yeoville became a bastion of apartheid defiance in the late 1980?s and a melting pot where creative and eclectic people of all races, backgrounds, lifestyles, classes and creeds cross pollinated. It became the ‘model democratic city of South Africa.’ With a history as rich and unique as this, it is understandable that both those who experienced it’s hey-day magic and moved on, and those who have chosen to remain there, speak of their Yeoville with vivid nostalgia and undying love. It once had the colourful bohemian energy and eclecticism similar to that of New York City’s East Village, Amsterdam, and London’s Camden Town. Its allure as a celebrated model of non-racial co-existence attracted some of South Africa’s most acclaimed musicians, artists and the new political elite. Even though many would say that Yeoville has slipped into a rapid and ungraceful old age, marred by urban decay and crime, its once bustling streets and now dilapidated buildings still silently whisper of the rich culture, creativity and vibrancy it once exuded.