When stumbling into the Troyeville Hotel, you notice quite quickly that you have once of the best views of the city. Johannesburg stadium lies ahead, with Ponte and The Telkom Tower flashing behind. It still functions as a hotel. They DONT charge by the hour, so its not one of “those” Joburg hotels, but when it comes to this place, its definitely more about the food. You have three different choices of restaurants, with one acting more like a function venue. The Flamingo restaurant (pictured above) looks just as amazing as you would imagine a restaurant with this name would be! I heard the steaks are some of the best in the city….

25 Bezuidenhout St, Troyeville

+27 11 402 7709

here’s the website.

We’re getting to the real fun part over here. One of the most distinguishing factors about Main Street Life, is about how the developers Propertuity envisioned the many uses of the building. This week proved to really put these plans and concepts to the test.

Propertuity have built the playground for us here, and even during construction, people are starting to use it….nicely!

Clothing label Love Jozi chose Main Street Life as the location to shoot their latest range. The latest range has been named the CityBoy range, and the models featured in the shoot were all people living and working in the inner city. So yours truly was also a model. Photographer Ross Garrett was there to get inner Derrick Zoolander out of all of us non-models.

The day was great in that all the people involved in exciting city developments, from all the different pockets of the city, could all meet each other and be gathered in one place. The conversation was inevitable…..why we love Joburg, and what I can share with others from my view on the city. Alastair was there from Private Practice, Brian from the Anstey’s Building, Andile from D.O.P.E. store, Kassa from Cafe Addis, and many many more….

The location was the yet to be developed second floor, and the props where the large, and incredibly awesome letters that once hung on the side of the building. The letters spelt out ‘Jack Lemkis Sports’, which if you ask your parents Im told was the Sportsman’s Warehouse of the day.

The rage will be launched within the next few weeks, and the images displayed right here on Main Street Life.TV as they come out. in the meantime, check out the coolness that is Love Jozi

Kerim Seiler calls himself a nomad, but a very particular kind of  nomad.

Up until the moment he showed me his portfolio, I had a completely different attitude towards him. Up until that point, he’d just been this charasmatic swiss dude, who’d rolled up in a beat down Citi Golf. When I met him, all I knew was that he was a Swiss based artist, and that he was going to be doing a piece on the roof of the building.

When we where going through his previous work it started dawning on me. You know those incredibly “cool” art pieces you see collected on the uber cool design blogs like ffffound.com and todayandtomorrow.net ? This dude makes that stuff!!!

Karem was traveling around the world with fellow artist Gregor Metzger with the piece entitled Pneuma Somnabul (Nomadic Structures). Their time spend in Joburg was unlike any tourist or visiting artist I’d seen. These guys were staying in Hillbrow, and walking around checking Muti Markets! Our last night was spent at Abbissinia on Queen Street, and then later, standing around their trusty Citi Golf  in the street, blaring this Kwaito artist they’d taken a liking to.

The basic idea of their project however was to build this particular, and specific light structure in locations around the world. Now you might be wonder what the point or meaning was of the excercise, and Im sure there was one to a degree, but it was the kind of art that didn’t really need it. And Karim also wasn’t the type of artist that wanted to shove any rhetoric down your throat.

Instead of a fancy unveiling, or prepared speech, the guys just wanted to have a braai and a few beers on the roof. Friends of friends came, they photographed their creation, and then that was that…..the structure moved on. Last I heard of it, it was shining underneath a tree in rural Kwa Zulu Natal.

I hope it enjoyed its stay here in Joburg, it couldn’t have asked for a better view.

“I love it when it rains in Joburg” I said, “it always feels like the city needs a good clean, and I think it gets that every time”.

If Joburg really was a woman, in the kind of feminine personification used to romantisize a place, Joburg is the woman who doesn’t care much for her looks. And if rain was mother nature’s range of facial products, It was decided that Joburg often ends up postponing the facial with the beautician. Things always seem to get in the way, like fetching the kids, working late, or having to do a doing a shop.

And when she does finally get round to it, she’s so Jobusy she cant really get the time to enjoy it. So she gets the scrub, the quick rinse, and leaves with her hair still pressed back funny from the hot towel.

Cape Town on the other hand, books herself in for deep rinse once a year. So that come supper time, her skin is smooth and perfect.

All this being said, I’ve never liked the girl who’s completely obsessed with her looks. Sure she’s nice to look at, but when not parading, she’s pampering herself and no fun to be around. I’ve always taken a fondness to the girl with more untraditional good looks. The one where not everyone sees her walk down the road, but a select few would turn around and with a smile, say something like..

“I dont know, there’s just something about her”