Page 70 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

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The Breakers

‘The Breakers’ also pre-dates 1915 and was running as a boarding house in the 1920s and has

continued to do so till the present day. It was initially quite a small house set high up on the

slope but was later considerably expanded to a 17-room establishment by a Pretoria family
who had sold their farm when gold was discovered on it. Subsequent owners continued to

expand it and make it more like a private hotel. In 1942 it was bought by Mr and Mrs H. L.

Bosman and during the war years numerous sailors and soldiers, many of them American,
were billeted there. In those straitened times such permanent residents were an economic

boon. In 1981, at the age of 91, Mrs Bosman sold the business. It has changed hands a

number of times since then but still takes in guests. (Robert Hay, pers. comm.)

Conclusion

Hotels and boarding houses were once an integral and important component of the local

economy and their demise from the late 60s onwards affected the vigour of local business.

What is true for Kalk Bay - St. James has also been true for Fish Hoek and for Muizenberg
and for Simon’s Town.

For example, in 1951 there were 36 hotel / boarding house establishments along the False Bay
coastline from Muizenberg to Simon’s Town. One of them, the Balmoral in Muizenberg with

120 beds, was equivalent in size to the Mount Nelson at that time. (City of Cape Town

Official Guide, 1951.) By 1967 the number had risen to 47 establishments with a total
capacity of 2,031 beds.

Between those years the number of establishments in Kalk Bay - St. James remained constant
at eight with a bed total of 330. (CPA, 1967.) Today there are only three operating

establishments left in Kalk Bay (Innisfail, Castle Hill, and Chartfield) offering a total of 67
beds.