SandBar Johnny Stops Traffic

SandBar Johnny has, since retiring as SandBar’s doorman and being “dumped” across the road, become a social media star and local landmark. His dashing good looks literally stop traffic, which incidentally, became the catalyst for internationally recognised artists stepping forward every few years to give him a fresh new style.

In 2017, Johnny Walker imported 365 of these gold statues – one for every day of the year – and famously staged them on the Nelson Mandela Bridge in support of the Million Man March, which took place in 1995 in Washington, D.C., promoting unity, personal responsibility and community improvement. One of those statues eventually found its way to Umdloti. He was originally donated to SandBar Restaurant and Cocktail Bar in 2020 by Johnny Walker as a nod to excellence. However, restaurant owners say that after a season, it became “a bit of a blob, like an irritation standing in our way”. So the statue was carried across the road in the hope that someone would steal it. But nobody did.

Instead, restaurant staff noticed motorists were suddenly stopping at the pedestrian crossing because they thought someone was standing there; something the owners say they normally wouldn’t do, drivers would simply fly over it. That is when the SandBar owners came up with the concept of “SandBar Johnny”. What started as a discarded ornament evolved into something genuinely helpful for pedestrians and has since become a local landmark thanks to the beautiful artwork created by professional artists.

SandBar Johnny’s first high-fashion transformation took place in December 2022, and saw internationally renowned artist Lori Schaped-Youens, assisted by local emerging artist Maryn Reimers, make him “Cool as F**k”. In June 2024, the streetside emperor received another new set of clothes. This time, he became the “Mad Hatter”, courtesy of international artists Mandy Brockbank and Audrey Rodnick.

The dashing statue’s best-kept secret is what he gets up to when the sun goes down, and the stars come out to play. Once SandBar locks its doors for the evening and Umdloti rolls up its pavements, he comes alive, hitting the Durban club scene. He stays out all night partying and, by morning, walks back across the pedestrian crossing to take up his position and sleep all day with his head resting on his arm.

It has been two years since Sandbar Johnny’s last makeover, and his next fashion makeover is planned for this Saturday, 13 June. We can’t wait to see what the dashing don emerges as next.