The 44 Stanley Secret
If your home will never be quite complete without a statue of Buddha that sparkles like a disco mirror ball, I know just where to buy one. You need to go shopping at 44 Stanley in Milpark, on the fringe of central Johannesburg.
This lovely shopping area would feel perfectly normal anywhere in Europe, but it’s decidedly quaint in this country of soulless shopping malls and repetitive franchises.
It’s been going strong for six years now, proving that there’s a real demand for the oddball and eclectic items that are on sale. You can buy some more practical things too, but they’re not quite as amusing and I almost regretted flinging out my warped Bowie albums when I saw a collection of carefully restored old gramophones in a shop called Vintage Cowboys. Its owner, Colin Davids, says 44 Stanley’s mixture of shops, restaurants, tenants and customers is “like a jigsaw mix where all the pieces fit together”.
The area was created in an abandoned workshop once used by Auto Mobile, and its industrial past gives all the shops interesting shapes to work around. The unusual layout includes twin courtyards housing open-air cafes, while little side alleys lead into quieter corners.
You can order a meal, sit in the sun surrounded by trees and shrubs, and leaf through a book you just picked up at L’Elephant Terrible, a Dickensian style bookshop run by Wolf Weinek, who looks like a character straight out of one of his European classics. There’s a story behind the name of his shop, of course, but go and hear Wolf tell the tale with his Austrian accent. Wolf got the lease on his bookshop because the shop is small and poky, making it ideal for an enchanting bookshop, but unworkable for anyone trying to manufacture anything.
Fashion designer Tiaan Nagel waited for ages for larger premises to become available so he could create his outfits at a studio in the back and sell them from a showroom at the front. “This is such a cool environment because a lot of creative people like designers and directors frequent the place, and they’re our kind of customers. It’s got a nice urban edge to it – it’s not a contrived and glossy shopping mall,” he says.
Tiaan believes 44 Stanley is perfect because it’s a destination in itself, not just a place to go to tick off a shopping list. He designs his clothes for sophisticated ladies aged 25 to 45 who appreciate something “left of centre but not too avant garden”.
They’re the type of ladies who meet at 44 Stanley for lattes on a Saturday morning at the Salvation Café, which is run by Claudia Giannoccaro. She’s nicknamed “The Salty Chef” because she used to cook for the rich and famous on their luxury yachts. Now that she’s a landlubber, we can all eat like rock stars without getting seasick. I order a Salvation Smoothie and find this is no fat-free goody-two-shoes version. This is a delicious creation of thick yoghurt, honey, berries and paw-paw that tones your cheekbones with the effort needed to suck it up the straw.
As I explore some more, I realise that none of the tenants are likely to get rich in these Bohemian buildings, but that’s probably the whole point. They’re here to be artistic and creative, not commercial and money grabbing.
I follow a strong coffee aroma and walk into Bean There, where a roaster is grinding up coffee so fresh that you get a caffeine kick just by inhaling.
In a nearby corner there’s an ATM, in case you can’t resist splurging on a Vespa from Vintage Cowboys or buying a chic and unusual outfit from one of the designer clothes shops.
Walk a little further and you find the second courtyard filled with tables spilling out of Il Giardino restaurant. This is one of the few outlets keen to keep 44 Stanley buzzing in the evenings. At the moment it’s very much a daytime destination, but another lounge bar is opening soon and there are plans to make 44 Stanley an evening venue in time for the 2010 World Cup. I hope it works, because it would be excellent to see another part of Joburg reclaimed as part of the urban nightlife scene.
The whole area has become so popular that Pirelli has even opened a showroom. Even Nino’s has set up a restaurant outside, perhaps to offer some comforting familiarity to anyone who feels a little disoriented to discover so much innovation.
For more, go to www.44stanley.co.za.
Story by Lesley Stones
