An abbreviated visit to Melrose Arch
A couple of weeks ago, Peter Ong took me to eat at his really cool restaurant located in the Melrose Arch area in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It’s called Moyo and specializes in authentic South African cooking.
It was pretty swell, but what really impressed me was Melrose Arch itself. It was an incredibly nice and well-designed shopping area. So with an entire weekend to kill and not much left on my to-do list, I drove back up there today to take a few pictures.
Even the underground parking deck was bright and cheerful.
Check out the nice lighting and the neon. These guys shelled out some big bucks on nice, upscale touches.
The place couldn’t have been here very long. The satellite view from Google Maps shows cleared land and construction.
But the place is extraordinary.
You can see the banner on the left in the picture below: “100 new shops open.” I thought this meant they had opened new shops. But, it turns out, it refers to all the shops.
The place is very, very secure. Wonderfully landscaped. The architecture adds flavor and atmosphere to the shopping and dining experience.
I was particularly taken with this place:
No, it’s not a restaurant like it is in the U.S. This is an office supply store.
Downstairs are retail and restaurants. Upstairs are offices. There is traffic on the through streets, but not a lot of traffic — entry into the area is tightly controlled.
The overhangs and the trees make for great sidewalk dining.
Here’s the open square area. Note the huge Christmas tree, which is quite impressive at night.
All the storefronts are lavishly decorated for the season, in fact.
Rather than the usual street musicians and beggars, Melrose Arch features professional-quality musicians roaming the streets, adding atmosphere.
Please add your own off-color comment here about a saxy musician.
There’s even a luxury hotel and a few upscale apartments around. Whoever designed this place did it right. Surely, this is what all urban-style developments will look like one day.
But right after I snapped that picture, I found the downside to the whole thing: Two enormous security guards chased me down and kicked me out of the place.
Now, this surprised me. I ran into trouble attempting to shoot the inside of a McDonald’s my first week here. But I’ve not had problems since then. Besides, this place has a hotel in the center of it. How do they police hotel guests who bring cameras with them?
And what will they do next June, when they will presumably have an influx of Americans and Europeans and Asians, all with cameras? Are they planning to kick them all out?
That’s what I asked the guards. They just shrugged and escorted me to the parking deck.
So I take back all the nice things I said about Melrose Arch. This place is a scuzzy dump! Who’d want to shop there?
That kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm for shooting more pictures. I went back to my own hotel and sulked most of the rest of the day.
My spirits were picked up — as they are each night, of course — by the very nice girls down in MacRib, the hotel restaurant. The manager, Charles, was off for the night. But the five folks on duty tonight were glad to pose for a picture.
On the left is Charity, who’s taken special care of me for the past few weeks. Next to her is Jesse, running the place tonight. To her left is Nothando, Thembi and Thembelani.
All five are from Zimbabwe, Charity tells me. And all five have waited on me a number of times. They all are bright, generous and fun.
They were dressed in soccer jerseys tonight in honor of guests who arrived tonight: The Generations Adidas team, made of MLS professional players from the U.S. Although they were dead tired — they just got off the plane a little while ago — the guys let me take their picture…
…meaning they’re a hell of a lot nicer than the folks at Melrose Arch. (By the way, click on that photo for a larger look.)
The team is here in touring South Africa, working out here and there, meeting folks and doing the tourist thing. Read a press release about their South African tour here. Find their home page here.
And that was my crazy Saturday. At least it wasn’t boring.
Sunday, my plans are to… aw, hell, I don’t have a clue. The challenge will be to make it interesting. But hopefully non-confrontational. Sunday night, a few folks are getting together to throw a small party on my behalf.
Monday, I fly home.