Maboneng ("place of light" in Sotho) is the most successful regeneration project in inner Johannesburg, centred on Fox and Commissioner Streets in the city's east. A developer began buying and restoring neglected warehouses and factory buildings from around 2009, and the result is a compact cluster of galleries, independent restaurants, design studios, and residential lofts that feels genuinely urban in a city where almost everything interesting has moved to the northern suburbs.
Arts on Main runs on Sunday mornings — a market combining food stalls, craft vendors, and live music in a converted warehouse space. The neighbourhood is at its most lively on weekend days; during the week it is quieter but the restaurants still operate. Like all inner-city Johannesburg, use Uber rather than walking to get here, and exercise normal urban caution. The contrast between Maboneng's bustle and the surrounding dereliction is stark — it is a tiny island, but a genuinely interesting one.