Salt River to Silo District: Cape Town’s Evolution

Saturdays were always outing days. In our household, they started early—a blur of chores, club soccer matches(I played for Turfhall FC), and the essential returning of library books. This was a time before the sprawling shopping malls of today. Back then, your weekend path was clear: you were either heading to Athlone to what was then called "Foodworld," or you were catching a bus or taxi into the City Centre.

We would often start at "The Acre" (The Golden Acre), a ritual that coincided with clothing shopping on The Parade, right opposite the City Hall. These excursions weren’t just errands; they were the fundamental experiences of growing up in the Cape Town of the 80s and 90s.

Lunch in the  Company Gardens

Saturday lunches in the Company Gardens just hit differently. There is a specific kind of magic in opening up a Gatsby, a chip roll, or a vienna-and-chip parcel drenched in peri-peri. Whatever your "poison," it was good. I can still recall the sharp, stinging smell of salt and vinegar coupled with the warmth of steamy slap chips rising from the white paper parcel. It was a sensory language that spoke directly to you.

The Bittersweet Fade

It is funny how those experiences seem to fade away without warning. It is as if we know those moments won't last forever, so we don't put up much of a fight to relive them. Looking back, I realize that for many of us, this wasn't always a choice—it was what we could afford. But whether born of necessity or habit, it became the heartbeat of our city.

Today, as I walk through the Silo District or look up at the shiny glass towers of the Foreshore, I feel the tension of our "sleepy town" past colliding with our new status as a "global hotspot". This growth brings vibrancy and investment, but it also brings a certain "Disney-fication"—a sanitization of the grit and character that made Cape Town feel like home.

Finding the Holdouts: The Eastern Food Bazaar

While much of that "middle" ground of the city feels like it’s vanishing, there are still places where the real Cape Town breathes. One of my favorite "defiant holdouts" is the Eastern Food Bazaar(formerly Wellingtons Dried Fruit Wholesalers).

In a sea of modern, minimalist coffee shops, the Bazaar remains beautifully chaotic, authentic, and delicious. It is a bridge between the city we were and the metropole we are becoming—a place where you can still find that "old world" energy that predates the glass towers.

Written by: Mark Smith - Athlone Local at Heart

The serving counters at the Eastern Food Bazaar - Longmarket Street/Darling Street.