And we're back! Who knew 86 would be the elusive one? Too little time, too much to say, so let's get right into it. Welcome to Melville Untold.

In this week’s newsletter:

— Aubrey Moloto,

R.I.P., Chris Pheiffer. Melville’s lost another icon. 💔🕊️

For years, it was probably a building you tried not to see. The old Adult World on the corner of Main and 4th Avenue, then nothing, almost as if it was destined to end up like many Joburg high street buildings, left for dead. Walk past it today, and the corner breathes new life. The lights are on 'til late, and there's no doef-doef. On Youth Day, 16 June, that corner started broadcasting, live, to a massive audience on TikTok.

Yes, you guessed it, we are talking ERF350 Melville Studios, and the big thing being beamed out of it is called SHAP LIVE, a new venture from the production company SPACE. It's calling itself South Africa's first 24/7 structured live broadcast channel on TikTok. Most channels are creators posting clips. This is a channel with scheduled shows, presenters and a control room, built for the platform a whole generation is now glued to. The space looks like a futuristic live TV set, but geared more for online content like short-form video and podcasts.

"South Africa has always had a broadcast culture," says Morne Ebersohn, the director of SPACE.tm. "Radio built it. Television sustained it. SHAP LIVE is the first broadcast channel designed for where that culture has migrated, TikTok." His co-founder is Johan Prins, and between them their approach is clear: stop treating TikTok as a place to drop videos, and start treating it like a station.

The numbers they put behind that, and these are the company's own figures, are not small. SPACE.tm says SHAP LIVE went live with 500,000 followers already in hand, after a pilot from February to April that pulled 2.3 million views in 60 days on no ad spend. They say the audience is 87.6% South African and three-quarters of it is between 18 and 34. Whether those hold up over a full season only time will tell. What is not in question is that all of this is running out of our own backyard.

So why here? A national broadcast play could have joined Red Pepper in Linden or gone to Parkhurst or Rosebank, take your pick. It planted its flag on that iconic building on 4th instead. Morne has been quietly building on that corner since 2018 and officially opened in '23: podcast booths, soundproof rooms, boardrooms and shared office space for hire, hot desks, a coffee shop and a rooftop. He is no noob either; he co-founded SPACE all the way back in 2009, so this is less a startup and more a 17-year run-up that just went live.

He will tell you the building has had a few lives before this one: an adult shop, a church, a dojo, then years of standing empty. But the common thread we keep coming back to in Melville Untold is this: the creatives never left Melville.

So, yes, another big play in our hood, but is it actually for us? On the ground, I put that to Siya Shangu, SHAP LIVE's production associate, the man who helps facilitate the talent and the tech. His answer was a straight callout to the neighbourhood. They are casting from right here: open auditions for hosts, a live "Karaoke Idols" where the audience votes the singers through, and standing studio time for local creators who want to come record and be seen. "If you feel like you have the talent, come in, audition, let's have fun," he says. The bigger idea is a creator economy that keeps its money at home: "Kids don't go outside to play any more, so let's bring the play to digital," he says, and "help them monetise their creativity, and build a community of creators."

"Melville was one of the hubs where the youth wanted to be. It was the place to be," he says. "Then the water, the discomfort, people stopped feeling it. We want to bring that spark back. Biggest creators, youth, where are you? UJ, where are you? Wits, where are you? This is the place to be." We could not have said it better ourselves!

It is already reaching across the hood. ERF and the Resource Gallery have been cooking up a collaboration for the Art Mile, and last night the partnership deepened, hosting a paint-and-crafts evening where our VIP tour kicked off.

What's in it for them? SHAP LIVE is a commercial channel chasing founding advertisers, and those audience numbers are the house's own. Every broadcaster sells its reach. So along with their co-working facilities and office-space rentals, the platform is the product. The proof is whether, this time next year, that corner is still loud, still local, and still ours. Knowing Morne, and after hearing about his connection to Melville, the chances are extremely high.

For now, do what half a million people already have. Open TikTok, search @shaplive, and watch your own neighbourhood broadcast itself to the country. Or have an idea? Pitch your show to our newest local broadcaster; the doors on Main and 4th are open, and they are casting!

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Check out the Melville Pulse calendar in all its glory; finally, the website is live! Your new go-to for events and specials around the neighbourhood.

Are you hosting a gig, a workshop, or a pop-up? Don't let your event be a secret. Submit your events to us here.

After a spell in the dark, our beloved Bambanani is finally open bigger and better than before! The restaurant reopens from tonight after two months closed and the theatre has been named in honour of the legendary Scala theatre that once thrived on that corner. Yes, the owner Caryn says our Melville cinema history piece a few weeks back inspired it. Beautiful. Every evening brings one insanely good meal and a spread of desserts to go with the entertainment. Go welcome them home when you can. Follow the Scala Theatre on Instagram, or on Facebook now.

The road we've watched sit half-dead for more than a year is filling in fast: the new Coffee Stop is open and pouring shots, the Central African spot where Video Town used to be is quietly one of the best-value plates in the hood (very organic, indigenous, proper veg options), and I'm sure you've noticed the fresh new sign reading "Velluto" on the corner: a new club has opened and it's already buzzing with activity.

We met the manager, Pam, who's genuinely excited about coming to Melville, and we have scheduled an interview to introduce them properly soon. Also very African but a lot more high-end, just look at the cars that park outside! I think it's safe to say that Main Road has become little Africa.

There are a few new shops, a club opening up where Catz used to be and The Confluence is fully operational, barring its liquor license. The Boulevard is getting a fresh coat, and maintenance is back in full swing; something is definitely happening there.

Allow us one bite of our own news: the official Snaps On Seventh website is finally live. It was never going to be a fancy digital brochure; it grew by order of the hood's needs, one at a time. First came the newsletter archive, so no issue of Untold ever gets lost. Then the Melville Pulse calendar, born the day the Gig Guide outgrew this email. Then it rolled up its sleeves for our guesthouses, hosting the neighbourhood brochure, before becoming home to Melville Art Mile tickets and info. And now the newest wing: our services, everything we do behind the camera and the keyboard.

Coming soon: the Melville Memory Vault. If you remember Thunda.com, you are going to LOVE this. After each weekend we will roam the hood's events, do light edits, and upload the snaps for you to download, request a takedown, or simply relive the whole thing. A local directory is on the wish list too, but one need at a time.

So have a look around and tell us what would make it easier for you to use; just hit reply. Let's make it Melville's home page.

It has been a rough few weeks on the Commando System, some streets went more than two weeks dry, but there is finally some light. Ward councillor Cllr Kyle Jacobs's latest updates say inflows have improved, a power fault that had been knocking out the Crosby pumps has been fixed, and the system is stabilising, though higher-lying streets in the Hursthill 2 zone may still see low pressure while it recovers. If you are still dry, the satellite station has been running water-collection points (watch the Council group for times), and you can reach Cllr Jacobs on 079 157 1525. Johannesburg Water now posts daily supply-status updates on X (@JHBWater). Sobering context from CREASS's Danny Nunes: there are roughly 16 Joburg Water leak sites still awaiting repair in the area, and with the City cash-strapped, those can take months.

A heads-up that the 1 July tariff increases are in: electricity, water, refuse and rates all went up, so this month's account will sting more than usual.

The major burst at 7th Avenue (between 8th and 9th) that closed the road has been repaired and backfilled, after Joburg Water dug out tree roots that had wrecked the pipe. Thanks to CREASS and the MSI for managing it and keeping chaos down while it was open.

The City Power Hursthill depot has flagged limited service delivery, with reduced customer-care and back-office staff and faults triaged by a smaller technical team, so outages may take longer to clear. If you lose power, check whether neighbours are also off, log it as a "No Power to Property" fault and keep the reference, and follow the City Power Hursthill SDC updates channel on WhatsApp.

Nearly seven months ago, on a December evening, we opened a handful of doors around our neighbourhood and asked Joburg to take a walk with us. We called it the Melville Art Mile. We did not really know if anyone would come. They came. Last night was the sixth edition, our Mandela Month opener, and once again the whole hood turned into a gallery you could walk through, cosy against about 2°C, with fires, heaters and kettles on 'til late.

And what a night to come back on. We had our best ticket sales since February; people really came out. Best of all, the shuttle system finally clicked, and you could watch folks zipping between venues, warm and grinning, instead of squinting at a map in the cold.

The star of the show was Hotel Hope's Christmas in July. The "best in Joburg" thrift store was packed as tight as cosy sardines, everyone clutching a hymn sheet as the kids sang alongside the Salvation Army, while the team brewed gluhwein and passed around wine, Christmas pies, teas and coffees. Truly, truly special. There were so many wonderful activities, but that one was a night to remember, and proof this thing is really ours now.

For anyone who missed it, a taste of the rest: Mmutla Mashishi's monumental found-material work up at the Rooftop Gallery (nails, scars and salvage turned into resilience), our July poster artist Rae Mandala opening Avalon Art with her healing mandalas, SIX Cocktail Bar’s interactive anime art workshop, the Play Café's under-15s show curated by Ankia van der Merwe, the legendary Carol Slabolepszy with a world class exhibition at Stokvel and then we wrapped up youth month with four exceptional students in the giving room. While the Resource Gallery hung works inside ERF350 along their sip and paint event as their new collaboration found its feet.

Still on the walls this week: you have not missed everything. SPEELSPEEL, Flip Hattingh's quirky new work at Gallery 1903, runs on, and Rae's mandalas are at Avalon Art on 3rd Avenue, Martin Wenkidu's Studio 79 is open all weekend, ERF's collaboration with Resource. Most of these will be on till the next Art Mile, although you can still catch Carol at the Stokvel Gallery for the rest of the weekend.

Next Mile: Thursday 6 August. Same magic, hopefully a degree or two warmer. You can always wander the public venues for free, or grab a self-tour (R150) or VIP (R450) wristband on the night, the paid ones are what keep the artists and entertainers paid and the Mile alive. We'll be having a special Teen exhibition at 27 Boxes, so email [email protected] to get involved.

This month's poster was by Rae Mandala of Avalon Art, the studio she runs with her daughter Hildegard on 3rd Avenue. Rae has made art her whole life: an artist mother, school prizes, and the Emma Smith Bursary, which she famously cashed in for a ticket to walk the great galleries of England, Italy, France, Switzerland and Greece. Her real love now is the mandala and its quiet power to heal, mathematical, layered, painted in complementary colours that seem to vibrate off the canvas. Her lockdown triptych "From the Heavens to the Ground" was chosen for the Emma Smith Centenary at the Durban Art Gallery. And once a week she still draws from life, because the human form never quite lets her go. Come for the poster, stay for the most handmade gallery on the Mile.

It is cold, which means two things in this hood: our pets are dressing better than we are, and somewhere out there an animal is going without.

The Winter Wear competition is still open, and we want to see your crew. Send a photo of your pet in their winter best, and you are in the running, with real swag and up to R2,500 in prizes. The amazing part of it all is that it doubles as a blanket drive. Donate a blanket, and we will come and collect it, so your kitted-out cat or jersey-wearing dog helps a colder, hungrier one through the worst of winter.

To enter: send your pet pics (and any blankets you can spare) to us at [email protected] or enter in-store at Raw Pet Food Deli in Parkhurst. We are running this every week until winter ends, so consider this your nudge.

Welcome our first entry, the gorgeous, most fashionable Coco Chanel of the Tilsley family. Does she have any competition? Let's celebrate our furry community while giving a helping hand. Send your pictures!

Spotify's new three-minute film "Zama", released alongside acclaimed musician Bongeziwe Mabandla's album "Ndingubani", is one single, continuous walking shot through our very own hood, Melville. It opens in the indigenous grasslands of our Melville Koppies, traces the streets that shaped his early Joburg years, and ends on a summit looking out over the city skyline, all narrated in isiXhosa. Even better: we were asked to scout the locations for the crew, with members of the committee, Alison and Danny, guiding them on the day. Our urban oasis, on a global platform. Again. What a year Melville is having!

The press is feeling it too. The Citizen's local papers just ran a piece headlined "The Koppies: A place that makes visitors smile". We could not have said it better.

Two ways to do it, same morning. Roll up your sleeves at the Koppies West work party (8am to 10am, meet 7.45am at the 3rd Avenue entrance) and help sustain the reserve, or head to Koppies Central where Wits associate professor and geologist Gill Drennan leads a talk-and-walk on the hill's three-billion-year-old rocks (9am to 11:30am, meet at the lecture hut, park at Marks Park, Judith Road). Fascinated by Joburg's rocks but clueless about them? You're gonna love this one; just the fact that these rocks once sat beneath an ancient inland sea is mind-blowing!

The Melville Artisanal Market is on winter hours, 10am to 3pm every Saturday until 29 August, next to the tennis courts (cnr Carlow and Rustenburg). The standout this winter: the Smallest Restaurant in Jozi is doing warming take-home soups (Butternut and Orange, Lentil and Veg, Pea and Ham), mostly vegan and vegetarian, with a weekly menu out on Wednesdays. Richard has moved; he has a full fruit-and-veg table at the bottom under the tree, Tamsin is doing R250 cheese boxes (pre-order), and Laurel has Andrew's raw honey and preloved books from R10. You may have caught them at the Mile last night at the Bamboo Lifestyle Centre (next to Tinsel); on a normal week, Saturday mornings are your window.

Melville Kruisgemeente is running its annual fundraiser on Saturday 25 July, in collaboration with the Melville Market, the South African National Blood Service, Beagle Watch and a handful of local businesses. This is exactly the kind of give-back, roll-up-your-sleeves Melville day that Mandela Month is built for and that Melville was built on. Ask anyone who's lived in Melville over 40 years, and they will tell you: the ladies of the congregation built the church and lots of Melville by way of fundraisers! Pannekoeke, koeksisters, church bazaars and much more! The tradition continues!

More information coming soon. To get involved, contact Lara at Kruisgemeente on 072 404 3679.

Ever finished this newsletter and thought, "I've got stories of my own"? Prove it tomorrow. Award-winning author and Melville local Anna Stroud hosts Writing From Within, a creative writing workshop in the Giving Room at JAM@27 Boxes on 4th Avenue, this Saturday 4 July, 1:30pm to 3:30pm. Her debut novel Who Looks Inside (Karavan Press, 2024) earned her the NIHSS Best Emerging Fiction Author award, a UJ Debut Prize shortlisting and a Sunday Times Literary Awards longlisting, and her short story "The Power Station" made the 2025 Short.Sharp.Stories collection. If you read the newsletter, you know her very well. Support one of our own. R150 a person. Book on Quicket or contact Simphiwe on 071 857 4413.

A slippery Issue 86 finally in the can. As our business grows and Melville gets popular again, the weekly posts get harder and harder. This is still our number one product and utmost priority.

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Until next Wednesday, Melville:

Stay warm, stay welcoming, stay wonderful.

Ti logu ✌️