Memories From Joburg’s Carlton Hotel
The Johannesburg central business district (locals call it the CBD) has experienced tumultuous change over the past 50 years. Nowhere is that change more visible than at the once glitzy, now abandoned Carlton Hotel. The Carlton opened at the height of apartheid in...
That Time I Climbed Ponte
Let me tell you about that time I ran to the top of Ponte City. Looking up at Ponte City, the tallest residential building in Africa (at least for now). Every few months Dlala Nje and Microadventure Tours co-host the Ponte Challenge, which invites people to gather at...
5 Beautiful, Secret Places in Downtown Joburg
I was on a walking tour today, talking to someone about Joburg. It suddenly occurred to me there are so many insanely beautiful places in downtown Joburg that Joburgers either: a) don’t know about because the places are really hidden; or b) are afraid to visit,...
Transwerke: Artists Bring a Crumbling Building to Life
In Hillbrow, at the corner of Joubert and Sam Hancock Streets, is a striking Art Deco building with a strange, ominous-sounding name: Transwerke. Transwerke, and the many buildings like it in Joburg, are a perfect illustration of this city’s strange,...
Heather Mason
I’m an American writer/blogger/photographer living a quirky life in Johannesburg. Follow along as I explore Johannesburg, South Africa, and the rest of the world.
