Sea Point
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Sea Point (Afrikaans: Seepunt) is Cape Town's most densely populated suburb, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's CBD.
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[edit] Demographics
During the apartheid era, especially in the late 1970's and 1980's, many black and coloured South Africans defied the Group Areas Act to live in Sea Point. As a result Sea Point is now home to many ethnic and religious groups, such as Jews, Coloureds, black South Africans and Nigerians. There is also visible gay community in the area.
[edit] Perceptions of the suburb
Sea Point - especially the area below High Level Road - is regarded by some as a dangerous area and prone to more criminal activity than other "white" suburbs such as Rondebosch or Constantia. Conversely, many foreigners see it as a place of urban rejuvenation and there are many Dutch, German and British owned properties.
[edit] Layout and lifestyle
Sea Point is situated on a small stretch of land between a mountain and the sea. As a result, space is at a premium and, unlike other "white" suburbs in Cape Town, houses are built closely together, there are more blocks of flats and there are less public spaces. The most important communal space is the beachfront Promenade. This a paved walkway along the beachfront used by residents and tourists.
[edit] History
Ships entering the harbour in Table Bay from the east coast of Africa have to round the coast at Sea Point and over the years many of them have come to grief on the reefs just off shore. In May 1954, during a great storm, the "Basuto Coast" (246 tonnes) ended up on the rocks within a few metres of the concrete wall of the promenade. (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2216/text/MARITIME.TXT). A fireman who came to the assistance of the crew was swept off the wall of the swimming pool adjacent to the promenade by waves and was never seen again. The vessel was soon cut up and carried away for scrap. In July 1966 a large trader, the "S.A. Sea Farer", was stranded on the rocks only a couple of hundred metres from the main road through the suburb (ibid). The stranding was the cause of one of Cape Town's earliest great environmental scares, because the cargo included drums of tetramethyl lead and tetraethyl lead, volatile and highly toxic compounds that were in those days added to certain motor fuels. The ship was gradually destroyed by the huge swells that habitually roll in from the south Atlantic.
[edit] Famous people from Sea Point
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