Hillbrow

Hillbrow
Hillbrow and the Hillbrow Tower
Hillbrow Show map of Gauteng Hillbrow Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 26°11′20″S 28°2′56″E / 26.18889°S 28.04889°E / -26.18889; 28.04889
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Established	1894
Area [1]
• Total	1.08 km2 (0.42 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	74,131
• Density	69,000/km2 (180,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	98.3%
• Coloured	0.9%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	0.4%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Zulu	36.7%
• Southern Ndebele	16.1%
• English	9.7%
• Northern Sotho	7.1%
• Other	30.4%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	2001
PO box	2038
Area code	010

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^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Today, the majority of the residents are incoming migrants from the townships, rural areas and the rest of Africa, many living in abject poverty. 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.