^{Things You Didn’t Know About Melville}

Happy springtime and welcome to the long-awaited, long-time-coming issue #1 of the Melville Untold weekly newsletter. Expect the week’s scoop, hot and fresh like dog poop on the koppies on a Sunday morning, except we’ll be dropping every Tuesday! 

In today’s Melville Untold,

The Digest

• Things You Didn’t Know About Melville

• The New Kids On The Bloc

• First Water Problems, Now Power?

Kapow! Let’s go.

Aubrey “Snaps” Moloto

P.S. Farewell Claude The Great (SK Barman), Safe travels.

Things You Didn’t Know About Melville

We visited every (willing) business in Melville to find out their low-key, undercover offerings so you don’t have to. Here’s what we found.

Kicking off like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu with a little gem called ZA.ETC, managed by the very pleasant and informative Gary, sells high-end, hand-crafted, gorgeous jewels made from recyclable material. They find independent South African designers who make Indigenous pieces based on our local cultures, you can find them at the bottom of 7th Street next to Lovebooks bookshop - Shop 12, a 7th St, Melville.

Another interesting find was The Dictator Barber Shop, above the Melville Spar. They offer a 30-day barbering program complete with an accredited certificate upon completion. So if you have ever wanted to try your luck at getting people looking good it’s R7k for the full course if you’re a beginner and R4k if you have experience, complete with hands-on training and mentorship. You can find The Dictator at the Melville Boulevard on the top floor - 23 Main Rd, Melville

While we’re on Main, our next stop is the big white mysterious building directly opposite the Mays Chemist (or whatever it's called now) -  ERF/350, a “co-working space for creators and influencers.” Their facilities include content creation, broadcast and streaming studio and equipment, meeting rooms, board rooms, presentation rooms and offices for hire. They provide you with tools for your project's needs like cameras, audio booths, lights, phones and mics for the time acquired. Big gem for us creatives, with membership fees starting from only R200. We also use it for our in-studio photoshoots. Super clutch! You can find them on the corner of 4th Ave and Main Road - 16 Main Rd, Melville

Upon our adventures, we stumbled upon a local solopreneur - Juicy The Dance Specialist who offers a fun way to stay in shape at 27Boxes, with a special discount of R80 if you join monthly! You can also find him selling fruits and veggies on his bicycle on other days. He sources directly from the distribution depot and sells his high-quality produce at RIDONCULOUS prices - R8 for an Avo!!! - You can get a delivery from him by sending a DM on instagram - @juicy_the_dance_specialist

Nineteen45 also on Main Road has a secret luxury lounge. It's incredibly comfy, and private and feels exclusive with a mirror wall/door so you can still see and feel the vibe, but have your own private space, with plush leather couches, icon memorabilia and a big screen TV that you have full control of. They have rare wines with signatures from legends who have visited them in the past, is yours next? Find them at - 11 Main Rd, Melville

And for some quick-fire gems worth noting - Budbox Dispensary has giveaways for people who comment on their Instagram. Anti-Social Social Club gives free shots for people who like their posts, Jo’anna Meltbar has insanely good, uber-filling, gourmet toasties at half-price on Wednesdays, Smoking Kills offers bartenders an industry discount of 15% on all drinks and has a 50% rum and coke special from 2-4 on Saturdays, Ziggy’s Pet Emporium personally sources products for you and ships them in if you need. Coca Offers dance lessons on Wednesdays, and speaking of dancing SIX Cocktails Salsa Sundays is back and better than before! And a quick one for the motor-heads 27Boxes Premium Car Wash has high-end services with a thing called paint detailing which helps fix scratches and paint transfer marks.

Phew! And that’s that for things you may not have known in our hood. If you don’t know, now you know  _____! (Karaoke heads - fill in the blank)

Reply to this email with the low-down if you think we missed something good.

New Kids On The Bloc

In the last year or so we've had a reshuffle of businesses in Melville, and even more so on the strip. Most of us regulars will have seen or had some experiences with these "new kids on the bloc." if you haven't been around in a while, fear not, we got your back with the scoop!

At the back end of last year, we had Coca Lounge join the Melville fam and slotted in at the Old La Santa Muerte spot right next to where our beloved Hell's Kitchen had left a massive, hard-to-fill hole in our hearts. Coca is a very welcoming, homely place with a hectic schedule of events and things throughout the week. They offer very affordable drinks, and to many of our surprise, they also serve food. It has a very diverse crowd and is the only place on the strip that carries quarts (ngudu). On Tuesdays, they have comedy, Wednesdays karaoke hosted by Easy-G, Thursdays open mic night, Fridays private events with last week being a Zondo Commission band live event, it's usually a live music type of event. Saturday's another karaoke night and Sunday more live music. 2, 7th Street, Melville

Then soon after Coca Lounge, we welcomed the famous pastry specialists De Baba eatery, which quickly became a local favourite! It's the cute, colourful restaurant on the corner of 4th and 7th street. They are renowned for their wide selection of award-winning sweet and savoury pastries. They have some pro baristas that serve a mean coffee made from Tribeca beans so the coffee snobs are welcome. De Baba has a very artsy and productive energy perfect for digital nomads or business breakfast meetings. Cnr. 4th and 7th Street, Melville

Artüro Tequila, an amazing Afro-Latino fusion restaurant came soon after. It's owned by a Congolese lady who infused some Africa into the Latin dishes with meals like Birria beef tacos, stuffed plantains, Mexican pork with black bean stew and many more fusions. Artüro has a very casual yet classy atmosphere. Its decor is simple and elegant - very pretty. Being there definitely makes you want to post a snap! They have a wide selection of tequila cocktails and have monthly events like Taco Tuesdays and monthly Salsa Socials. You can find them across the road from Duke's Burgers and Jo'anna Meltbar. 6, 7th street, Melville

Next is our new noisy neighbour, Blanco On 7th. A youthful, fresh Amapiano lifestyle lounge. It gives upmarket Zouk with exclusive energy. You'll find trendy DJs banging their Amapiano log drums till the AMs. Even on a Monday, with events like Mogodu Lifestyle Mondays, Mimosa Sundays, Rockstar Fridays and Social Saturdays where they have jug specials from 2 pm to 6 pm. They serve high-end African cuisine and boast exclusivity with their first event on the strip being invite-only. They have classy decor keeping that upmarket feel. You can find Blanco next door to Karaoke Kong where Jolly Cool's used to be before it went ablaze, literally. Props to Blanco for doing a very elegant rebuild! Shop 2, 7th Street, Melville

The farmer’s market at the tennis courts on Rustenburg Road has been around for around 8 years, but a part of the market recently broke off, forming a more vibrant and colourful market called the I Love Melville Market. They set up shop on 4th at the Kruis church and had their first market day on May 8th this year. The market starts at 9 am and runs until 2 pm. There seems to be a rotation of stalls and offerings, some live music and are slowly but (hopefully) surely building a crowd. With crowded and vibrant markets like the Fourways Farmers Market and Linden, let’s support and big up one of our own. I'm sure they’ll be competing in no time! When we went, we found amazing products sold by an array of interesting personalities, from a sweet lady at the entrance selling marmalade to Freshly squeezed juices and an amazing autistic young man whose mom helps him sell huge assortments of goodies he bakes himself! They looked like they should be on a Woolies shelf! All these stalls and many more selling sweet treats, meat pies, high-quality bags, breakfast buns and boeries, body care products, thrift and vintage drip and more! Visit our new market at - 45 4th Ave, Melville

Then the last to join us was The Sourcery. A co-working space with a coffee shop, and doubles as a vintage furniture store. They aim to build a welcoming atmosphere for people to hang out, work and enjoy coffee. When we visited them we walked in on a very intense chess game on a gorgeous board with beautiful African chess pieces. They also have an old-school arcade game machine that made me reminisce on my Teken and Mortal Combat days. An aesthetically pleasing place with a warm welcoming feeling. Find them at - Melville Mansions Hotel, shop 4 7th Street

A special mention goes to 2 new take-overs of Melville legacy businesses - Ratz Bar on 7th Street and Cuppa Cafe on Main Road. Ratz was bought over by Denzil from Denzil’s & Jo's Art Gallery in 27 Boxes and Cuppa Cafe by Nokhtula. Ratz has undertaken an interesting revamp of the inside and has a new sign and dartboard! With both establishments being some of the oldest places in Melville with giant legacies we have yet to see what changes these two new owners make, or if their next steps solidify these places' legacies or bring them down. Let’s support them and give them our blessings as they embark on this new chapter in Melville. Congrats to Denzil and Nokhtula and good luck!

First Water Problems, Now Power?

 We have all experienced the history of Melville’s many water issues. We once even felt a 14-day drought! Many residents had threatened legal action against the city of Jo’burg if no improvements were made. Recently after load-shedding stopped, Melville had some power issues too. So we went on a mission to find out the current state of these problems, why they happen and what we should expect next. 

First, a bit of history. The water system serving us and the surrounding areas was designed in 1960 for a significantly smaller amount of people than it supports today. The power system? More like the 1940s. Since then an influx of people into the city, most significantly around the time of democracy, and later gentrification of these areas ramped up the system's capacity. The City Of Jo’burg Municipality then started giving the green light to more and bigger buildings to house all of these people, further straining the ancient water and power system’s capacity. Pretty much really putting it through the paces. For some reason (I know what you're thinking) The COJ neglected to upgrade these systems to support the new amounts of people using them. Eventually, our local reservoirs got to critically low levels, worsened by an ageing infrastructure and complicated further by load shedding’s impact on the water distribution systems. 

Now with the power, the 1940’s - 60’s designs were not made to go on-and-off. The load shedding obliterated that rule, leaving us with damaged cables and infrastructure. We haven’t had any load shedding in a while but this August began very dark with a 4-day-straight power outage. This was due to the Hursthill substation having a multitude of issues. A burnt-down mini substation, a burnt cable where there were previous fixes and a few others that weren’t named specifically. But basically, the infrastructure is on the ropes thanks to never being upgraded. 

Where to from here? Well, there’s been talk of several projects and initiatives being implemented to upgrade our water and power infrastructure. Most significantly, our previous councillor Ms Bridgette Steer and a neighbouring councillor have undertaken a project in the last few months to build a new Brixton water tower and reservoir to better support the capacity. In July SME’s were issued the tenders for this work. We have yet to see where the project is and how long it’s expected to take, I guess that’s a story for another day.

That’s the history, current state, and next steps for our biggest civil issues here in the Ville. Let’s hope that these new implementations and upgrades will be absolute. Please tune in next time for an update once we’ve followed up. To be continued?

What’s Happenin’

Let’s talk events and what to do in Melville this week

04/09 Wednesday | Disney & Pixar quiz night | Karaoke Kong | Free Tickets Via Quicket

07/09 Saturday 2 pm | Book Circle Capital 27boxes | Lukhanyo Books hosts a book launch of NGOs, African and Global Powers - Reading Biko: Critical And Reflective Essays | Prof Siphamandla Zondi & Prof Vuyisile Msila in discussion

07/09 Saturday | Melville Guesthouse | Chef’s Table Event - 8 course fine dining, meal + wine | R500 Per person | RSVP - 0712514225/ 0710770368

07/09 Saturday | Coca | Braai Master Challenge - Daryle vs Luis | 12pm

07/09 Saturday | Coca Lounge | EazyG Birthday Celebration | Ladies free all night, cover charge is R50 after 10 pm for gents | 0670237132

08/09 Sunday 2 pm | SIX Cocktails | Salsa Sundays - Lessons by Pule Pujas Seleki | Happy hour till 7 pm (happy 5 hours?)

08/09 Sunday | Jo'anna Meltbar | Sola Vida - Drum & Bass Sundays | DJ's - Wallfower, Benson & Glitch| 4 pm | Half-price cocktails | Free entry all day

08/09 Sunday | Ratz Bar | Karaoke Night | 6.30 pm - 12 pm | Prizes to be won | Free entry

08/09 Sunday | Coca Lounge | Student Olympics Game Night | Entry R250 per team, free entry for spectators | Contact 0677825678/ 0717165867

09/09 Monday 8pm | SIX Cocktails | Comedy Night | Entrance Free

09/09 Monday | Blanco On 7th | Mogodu Lifestyle Monday | Reservations 0662082548

Melville Weather For The Week

Wednesday 

25 🌡️ 9  | ☀️ |  🌧️ 0 | 24 km/h 💨

Thursday  

24 🌡️ 10 | ☀️ |  🌧️ 0 | 24 km/h 💨

Friday 

27 🌡️ 10 | ☀️ |  🌧️ 0 | 24 km/h 💨

Saturday 

26 🌡️ 10 | ☀️ |  🌧️ 0 | 24 km/h 💨

Sunday

27 🌡️ 7 |  ⛅️ |  🌧️ 0 | 17 km/h 💨

Monday 

24 🌡️ 8 | ☀️ |  🌧️ 2% | 24 km/h 💨

Live Music Lowdown

04/09 Wednesday | SIX Cocktails | Live Jazz Sessions - Marcus Wyatt, Vuma Levin, Dalisu Ndlazi, Siphiwe Shiburi | 8 pm til late | Free entrance 

05/09 Thursday | Anti-Social Social Club | Club Vibes Vol 12 -  Lilac Jeans, Puppie OG, Loobub DJ, Calvin Morgan (USA), Taurus The Bull (USA)

07/09 Saturday | Smoking Kills | Street Fest x Underground #16 - FLVME, Isac Melander, Kiddo CSA, Kane Reid, Case-Klowzed, Hugo Pool, XXC Legacy, Tam Carson, Skhindi, Flowaboii, Uyihilo, Mahara, Benjamin, Fi Money, Official Shane, Yo Miya, J-Smash, NotBenjamin | Open Mic/Battle Entry R50 | Tickets before 8 pm R50, R100 after | 4 pm - 1 am 

07/09 Saturday | Wild Jasmine Guesthouse Melville | Pool Party Fund Raiser | Ms Niksta, Simz, Jazzinmoxion & Mkila - music curated by The Brother Moves On | 11 am - 5pm | Tickets R250 via Quicket

Civil Matters 

Some nasty, stinky sewage has been flowing into the Westdene dam for 13 days now. The sewage is coming in from somewhere in Westdene. The water flows from the dam to the Melville Koppies, from the Koppies to Emmerentia and ends up connecting to the Montgomery Spruit. It's very toxic and deadly to animals so if you walk your dogs anywhere around these areas please try your best to keep them from drinking and playing in the water. Canoeists, beware as well. 

Icing on the cake 

Congrats to Lovebooks for winning the Best Bookshop and Melville Shisa Nyama for winning the Best Shisa Nyama at the 702 Gauteng’s Greatest Awards!

Hotel Hope Ministries is looking for donations to help fill up the pantries of 5 children's homes. You can help by donating or going to shop at Hotel Hope Interiors on the corner of 7th Street and 1st Avenue, They are open every day from 9 am to 5 pm.

For online shopping contact Oliver at 0738093600. All donations will be taken straight to these children's homes.

To show some monetary love and support the kids financially you can donate funds to the following details.

Beneficiary: Hotel Hope

Bank: FNB Cheque

Account no: 62194003382

Branche: 250655

Thank you!

Aaand kapow! That was the first-ever issue of the Melville Untold, a truly momentous occasion and mega step in Snaps On Seventh’s mission to realise our vision of uniting this beautiful neighbourhood of ours. Thanks for reading the Melville Untold today, if you found something useful please share it with someone who cares about Melville.