Hout Bay is is a is a real mix of
of people it really is
it's you know you've got the village you've got the harbour you've got Imizamo Yethu you've got
foreigners from all over the world who choose to settle here
you'll find people from all over the country who've also chosen to settle here because
there's something that resonates as a community and I think that's what makes it really special
you know the beauty of it is unrivaled, I mean Chapmans Peak
is just probably one of the most beautiful roads in the world but it's more than that it's, it's a
sense of belonging it's a sense of, of community that I think makes Hout Bay special you know
um it's that village feel and it you kind of feel like you're part of something when you live here
um and that's why we also like the idea of having our Deus ex Machina Africa first flagship in Hout Bay.
My name is Craig Smith and we are at Deus Cafe in Hout Bay Cape Town
Deus is a sum of parts brand, it really just brings all bits and pieces together and we celebrate
individualism under one roof. From skateboarding to motorcycles to surfing in fact records music
there's no right or wrong way to individualism and Deus is a place where we celebrate that
and everyone's welcome under this roof and yeah I think what underpins Deus which is
not really a brand but more of a concept, is uh is the art and the art brings everything together
My name is Terri van Schaik, I am the wife of one of the owners of Deus ex Machina Africa
we are based in Hout Bay at the old Kronendal Heritage Site at the Homestead of Perpetuity
So the building dates back to the 1700s it's one of the original buildings of this type
of architecture H style architecture Cape Dutch, the Cloete family were based here in the 1900s
General Abraham Cloete and his family lived here
and his daughter Elsa Cloete is the um is the the ghost that haunts our building
it's fun having Elsa here, at first I used to open up
and I was always very very nervous of coming into the you know into this old
building on my own and very you know what's going to happen and you know etc but I don't know as we
as we've become used to her and I think she's become used to us it's a good relationship
When I feel the spirit I feel like my body is like it's not so weak and it's like it's shaking a little
bit and even the hair will be like there's a wind when there's no wind so it's what's happening
I've been here for a number of years. My name is Enoch most people also call me as knock knock
So the story of Elsa is that she was a young, the young daughter of Abraham Cloete and she fell in
love with a British soldier and her father being an Afrikaans boer (farmer) was very opposed to their, their
love and what they would do, so it was forbidden love, and what she would do is she would sit at
the windows in the front of the building and look at her her love across the road and he'd stand at
the oak tree alley looking back at her and um he hung himself with from a broken heart and she died
shortly after that from her broken heart too and the story goes that she's never left the building
We continued the tradition of setting a table for her every day so that she would feel welcome, we
have a little note on the table that tells her how happy we are to share our space with her and
according to legend if she's not happy with
the people occupying the building she gets rid of them. There are many sort of
stories that date back right to when this building was a restaurant. The police were called regularly
by passersby in the middle of the night to say there was a woman in the in the in the in the
window there's somebody in the window um you need to get to the house and the police would
come there be nobody here it would be quiet and dark, and eventually the owner got tired of of
being called out so he boarded up the window and each time he boarded it up it would be pulled down
There have been sightings as well where there was a man sitting where the retail store is now, it
used to be a restaurant and he spotted a woman in an old blue garb sitting at that table and
he thought it was an actual person but in fact it wasn't. So she lets herself she she
she lets us know that she's around. We don't think that she's ominous we think that she's
just a lost soul who just hasn't been able to settle and we've made friends with her really
Deus is a brand where everyone is welcome under under this roof, motorcycling and surfing are
generally quite intimidating activities, but this is a non-intimidating space, and just like everyone
is welcome here, Elsa is our most important guest and she's, we're in her house so we celebrate that.