Ajami, the Arab-Jewish Neighborhood
Yesterday, during a bright sunny day, I visited the beautiful Ajami-neighborhood. Towards the end of the 19th century the Ajami neighborhood , stretching south of ‘Old-Jaffa’ started to be built. In the beginning of the 20th century hundreds of families, mainly Christian-Arabs, settled in Ajami. After 1948, a large Arab population from different parts of the country moved into the fast growing neighborhood, together with new Jewish immigrants from the Balkans and North-Africa. In the 1950s the Municipality of then Tel Aviv-Jaffa came with a foolish-plan to transform Ajami to a modern neighborhood. Many beautiful old homes were destroyed and a large part of the population (Arab and Jewish!) were forced (!) to leave their homes. The neighborhood conditions drastically and quickly deteriorated, while no modern infrastructure was build. Beside, … Read entire article »
Filed under: architecture, city, future, history, life, restoration
YES!! We did it again: AJAMI
This is the 3rd time (!) in a row that an Israeli Movie (Beaufort, 2008; Waltz with Bashir in 2009) is one of the 5 nominees at the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film. This afternoon, it was announced in L.A. that: AJAMI, directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani was nominated for an Oscar on March 7th, 2010. Ajami is a neighborhood in Jaffa and all the cast or non-proffesionals and inhabitants of Jaffa. On March 7th, there will be a big party during the Oscar-ceremony in the Ajami neighborhood (we keep you informed). Mazzeltov to Scandar, Yaron, the crew and the inhabitants of Jaffa!!! Find the official list of nominees HERE … Read entire article »
City of Oranges
In two days we will know if the Israeli film: Ajami, directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani will be nominated for an Oscar. For all the people who saw, or will see this awesome movie about the Ajami-neighborhood in Jaffo, I recommand an outstanding book about the Arab-Jewish history of Jaffo: “City of Oranges : Arabs and Jews in Jaffa”, written by Adam LeBor. In 357 pages (with a lot of historical pictures) Adam LeBor writes about the ordinary people and families in Jaffo, who are trying to get on with their lives in the middle of a interminable conflict. … Read entire article »
Filed under: city, history, life, literature
Unique sketch by Kees van Dongen found at Music Center in TLV
An original sketch by the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen (1877-1968) of the pianist Felicja Blumental was discovered, a few weeks ago, in the Felicja Blumental Music Center (Bialik Square, Tel Aviv). While at a Beethoven festival featuring a solo performance of Felicja Blumental with the Pasdeloup Orchestra, conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser, at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris on the 27th of September 1959, Kees van Dongen, a closed friend of the artist, sketched her portrait on the concert poster and presented it to her. … Read entire article »
Florentin – from Salonika to Soho
A very loveable article, I did find in the METRO (Jerusalem Post, Friday January 15th) written by Joanna Paraszcur about the Florentin neighborhood in Tel Aviv, founded almost 90 years ago by Greek immigrants: “Florentin – from Salonika to Soho”. The neighborhood is today a new catch for real-estate developers. … Read entire article »
Filed under: architecture, city, future, history, life
History of newsreels in Tel Aviv
On Friday February 22, 1935 Migdalor Cinema opened its doors at the corner of Allenby and Ben Yehuda Streets in Tel Aviv. It brought a revolution, because newsreels were untill this time only shown occasionally in movie theaters and now the theather was going to show a new newsreel every week. In the first years the Carmel Newsreels were seen by about 22 percent of the Jewish population. Nirit Anderman writes a long but absolutely readable story about Migdalor Cinema and Carmel Newsreels in Haaretz. Very much recommended! … Read entire article »
Beautifully restored at Barzilay Street
In the Barzilay Street no.6, near the Rothschild Boulevard, you will find a beautiful restored Bauhaus (or International Style) building from 1934. It is one of the more then 4.000 International Style buildings, you will find in the inner-city of Tel Aviv, designed between 1930 and 1938. … Read entire article »
Filed under: architecture, future, history, restoration
There must be Another Way
This Sunday-evening, December 6th,the international premiere of Another Way, directed by Yariv Mozer, took place in the Cinematheque Tel Aviv. Another Way is a powerful, sometimes emotional documentary with a strong message. It is the story of Noa and Mira Awad, an Israeli Jew and Israeli Arab duo, who went to the Eurovision Songfestival 2009, during the last Israeli military operation in Gaza and strong resistance from the left and right in Israel. It was the first time that Israel did send a Jewish/Arab duo to the Eurovision. Noa and Mira are showing, altough all the ‘troubles’, that there must be Another Way !! … Read entire article »
The Dunes in New-York
The documentary Legend in the Dunes, directed and produced by Ya’acov Gross, will be screened in New-York on the 6th, 9th and 13th of December at the Israel Film Festival. This extraordinary film, using rare archival film documentaries made between 1897 and 1949, chronicles the miracle of the establishment of the first Hebrew city on the shore in the Land of Israel, now called Tel Aviv. … Read entire article »
Filed under: centennial, history, life
In Transit to Nowhere
I did find an interesting article in Ha’aretz by Esther Zandberg about the Neve-Sha’anan neighborhood: “In transit to nowhere”. Neve Sha’anan is the neighborhood between the old- and new Tel Aviv busstation and crowded today with foreign workers. Neve Sha’anan Street was once know as the shoe-shop street, because of the hundreds of small shoe-shops. Esther Zandberg writes: “…If we planners had understood that Neve Sha’anan was an inseparable part of the city and not a transit point, perhaps we would have know how to answer the real needs of a neighborhood and people who live there”. … Read entire article »
Walking with Irgoen Oleh Holland
On Friday 6th and 13th of November, I took a group (64 people all together) of Irgoen Oleh Holland (The Dutch new immigrant organization) for a walking tour of historic Tel Aviv: the architecture in the Neo-Classic, Neo-Romantic, Eclectic and Bauhaus or International Style. At the end of the 3 hours tour, the group received a light lunch at the first kiosk of Tel Aviv (1909), now restored at the corner of Herzl Street and Rothschild Boulevard. … Read entire article »
Filed under: architecture, events, future, history, life, restoration
Solel Boneh arcade destroyed
An other historic icon in Tel Aviv is gone The Solel Boneh Arcade at Allenby Street no. 111, a covered passage-way, was designed in the 1950s by Dov Karmi and Arieh Sharon in a modernist style and came to symbolize the era. Within the arcade were 20 small businesses and the famous Tamar Cinema. The 3 upper-floors contained Soleh Boneh, once the largest construction in Israel, offices. The arcade was destroyed to make space for the 27 floors glass tower the American architect Richard Meir designed on the corner of Allenby- and Rothschild Boulevard. The pictures were taken on Friday-afternoon, November 14 th. … Read entire article »
Filed under: architecture, history
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