Hillbrow

Hillbrow ( /ˈhɪlbroʊ/) is an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is known for its high levels of population density, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime.

It had a large and active Jewish community for much of the twentieth century and housed several Orthodox synagogues such as the Great Synagogue and Poswohl Synagogue. Temple Israel, the oldest Reform synagogue in the country, continues to hold services. In the 1970s it was an Apartheid-designated "whites only" area under the Group Areas Act, but later became a "grey area", where people of different ethnicities lived together. It acquired a cosmopolitan and politically progressive feel, and was one of the first identifiable gay and lesbian areas in urban South Africa. However, due to the mass growth of the population of poor and unemployed people after the end of Apartheid, crime soared and the streets became strewn with rubbish. This, together with lack of investment and fear led to an exodus of middle-class residents in the 1980s and the decay of major buildings, leaving in its wake an urban slum by the 1990s.

Today, the majority of the residents are incoming migrants from neighbouring country Zimbabwe and from Nigeria. There are a few locals living there from the townships. An urban regeneration programme is underway. There are street markets, mainly used by local residents, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery contains work by major local artists including William Kentridge.