Sea Point 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.

Sea Point has long had a reputation for being multi-cultural and multi-racial. During the era of apartheid, many Sea Point residents defied the Group Areas Act. Now Sea Point is home to many ethnic and religious groups, prominent examples being Jews and Nigerians. There is a visible gay community in the area. There are various perceptions and prejudices about the suburb - some regard it as a dangerous haven of criminal activity while others see it as an exciting place of urban rejuvenation. An important public space in Sea Point is the Promenade - a paved walkway along the beachfront used by residents and tourists. 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.

Suburbs of Cape Town | Orthodox Jewish communities