Hey, now, keep in mind I said I do NOT regret going to Tel Aviv!
It’s totally possible I wasn’t in the right places, but everything I saw was made of concrete blocks. Keep in mind I was living in J’salem at the time too, where everything is made of stone. It can be monotonous, but it’s fairly attractive. Certainly more than concrete. I was at the University of Tel Aviv (Beit HaTfutzot) and less than impressed with the surrounding architecture - isn’t the neighborhood it’s in supposed to be really ritzy? Ick.
Bonus points to Dopers who can name them without Googling.
MY (then) wife and I were on the way back to Ohio from a 4 week journey to California and back. We wound up there late one evening. We didn’t call ahead for reservations, depending on luck to find an inexpensive room. This would have been in 1983 or so. We wound up staying in a motel 6(I know, I know!). All we wanted was a bed for the night. IT was the single worse room I have ever stayed in. We complained and were moved to a new room twice. And I’m not one to complain. I can pretty much go with the flow. I’m easy.
We went looking for dinner, and drove around miles and miles of slaughter houses. My memory is that we wound up eating at a fast food joint. Our preference would have been to find a neat local restaurant or ethnic food place. I’m sure if I had known TVeblen at the time, I wouldn’t be writing this now.
We drove around the Metro area after dinner, but decided that we were in a time warp. I almost though we had actually driven to Indiana.
Samclem: I hade the exact same experience! Davenport, Iowa, ca. 1981! Same story…driving to the West Coast…lousy hotel room. We went out for dinner…and most of the "restaurants"were closed! This was around 8 PM! Finally found a place that was open…and we were the only people in the place! Lousy food…and non-existent service. I don’t know what people in Davenport do at night…they must go to bed at 6 PM! Absolutley NOTHING to do in this shithole of a town.
If I lived in Davenport, I’d leave as soon as possible!
Agreed. Which makes Jerusalem an extremely beautiful city… Boring, mind you, but beautiful…
No, not really. Ramat-Aviv (the part of town TAU is in) is really three different places - the southern (original) part, which is closest to the University (just West of it, across Levanon st.), is fairly low-built, spacious and green, but it basicly started out as a glorified refugee camp (Mostly Poles who escaped Holocaust and post-holocaust Europe) in the 50’s and still looks the part. The middle, called Neve-Avivim, which is just North-West of the University (North of Einstein blvd), is upper-middle class, academics rather than rich cats. The really expensive part, called Ramat-Aviv “C”, is about 1/2 a mile further North, filthy rich and still ugly…
On the whole, the interesting part is really the southern part of downtown, around Allenby, Rothschild, Ben-Zion etc… - and, of course, Old Jaffa.
Two different things, if I’m right and you mean the Carmel Market. That’s actually the interesting part of town I mentioned above (it’s just off Allenby).
Anyway - didn’t mean to come off snarky or put-off :o But Tel-Aviv as a candidate for worst city in the world !? I just had to respond! Plus maybe I can get you to consider another visit
It’s easy to explain Tel Avv’s ugliness. Untill recently, virtually all construction in Israel was reinforced concrete and cinderblocks covered with plaster and painted white. Practicle, sturdy, and relatively cheap, especially when you remember that wood is not a legal construction material around here, and bricks keep in too much heat. The only exception was Jerusalem, where an old Britisjh ordnance insisted on limestone facades (usually a few inches of phony blocks over more concrete and cinderblocks).
The problem with plaster over cinderblocks is, that after several decades of exposure to Tel Aviv’s sun, heat, humidity, air polution and salty breeze, it starts to turn gray and crumbly. Added to this is the fact that most apartments in Israel are privately owned, which means that building facades are rarely cleaned up. When you have a single landlord who wants to raise property values, renovating a building is easy. When you have a bunch of homeowners trying to get the money together… well, you know how it is. So the older portons of the city look pretty run down from the outside, even though it’s mainly a matter of cosmetics.
Still, many recent buildings seem to be sheathed in beige faux-marble, which looks like it has better staying power. We’ll see how they hold up in 30 years or so.
