Streets and names • How did the streets in the lower city of Haifa get their names?

Haifa's downtown - a reminder of the possibility of change

Every resident of Haifa will be rewarded if in the next two years, until the municipal elections in 2023, the mayor Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem is very, very successful. The success of a mayor is the success of the residents. Therefore, I think that one of the greatest successes of the previous mayor should be remembered , Yona Yahav, through his talent to choose the right people to work for him. You can argue about the style, but you can't argue with the results on the ground: the late Uri Blum, Tzachi Tarno, Gadi Margalit, Israel Savion, Shmuel Gantz. Yahav knew how to choose performers, and we see it in Haifa, and in my eyes, the highlight is the lower city.

The cats also hesitated to approach

When I was a child, I would go down to the lower city once a year, on Yom Kippur, to buy video tapes from the sailors. On the other days of the year there was nothing to approach the lower city. When the facelift of the Turkish market and the entire downtown started, I was a bit skeptical. I couldn't believe that there would be someone who would go out to spend time in such an area, that even the cats were afraid to walk around. But I was wrong. Yahav and Terno managed, with a lot of faith and money, to transform the lower city, and today it has dozens of pubs, restaurants and cafes alongside campuses and student dormitories.

through independence

Independence Road is one of the main streets in the lower city and its name refers to the declaration of the state. The street was paved in 1933, and in the first years it was called the King's Way.

Palmer gate

Palmer Gate Street was named after the engineer Frederic Palmer, who proposed to dry up a strip of sea, part of which became the port area.

The missile building (which is actually a sail)

The court was built in the lower city and the government offices were moved to the missile building (officially known as the Sail Tower). Next to the missile building is the treasury building, where the income tax is located. The courts were moved down to the lower city along with many law offices that were previously located in Hadar (the court was previously on Hassan Shukri Street). The lawyers fill the restaurants at lunchtime and the whole area is booming. The oldest restaurant in the lower city is, of course, the beer fountain, which attracts many diners, who enjoy a menu that has not changed roughly since the founding of the state.

Harbor Street

Hanamal street got its name from the proximity to the port of Haifa. In recent years there have been a number of restaurants on the street, the most prominent of which are the old 'Hamanal 24', Liberia, Morel Tapas Bar, Lux and more. In the past, on Fridays in the summer, there was a "Klevat Shabbat" event on Hamamal Street, with performances, cafes and activities for children.

Captain Steve

Captain Steve Street is named that way in memory of Esteban Hernandora Sobiaga (1905-1965), nicknamed Captain Steve and was a Spanish sea captain who came to live in Israel.

Wall paintings

In the lower city you can find several murals. It is possible to take a tour and get information about the murals. This mural is at the entrance to Harbor Street.

Return to Zion

This traffic circle is on Palmer Gate Street. The square is dedicated to the Haifa Boston partnership. Maybe it takes some artistic education to see the beauty in a fish with a boat on it, but I admit I have a hard time seeing it.

Shivet Zion Street got its name from the fact that the Jews returned to the Land of Israel after the exile in Babylon following the proclamation of Cyrus.

Chiat and Nathanson

Hayat Street was named after a wealthy Greek Christian Arab family. The family settled in Haifa at the end of the 19th century and owned many properties and land in the city.

In 1964, the name of the section of the street from the end of Paris Square to 7 Hayat Street was changed to Natanzon Street, after Shlomo Zalman Natanzon. Nathanzon (1889-1963) was the beloved of the city of Haifa, an economist and public activist. and served as the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Haifa and the head of Bank Leumi.

Beit Dagon and the Hashmona train station

In the lower city is the train station called the Hasmona station, in memory of the eight train workers who were killed by a missile hit the train garage during the Second Lebanon War in July 2006. Not far from the train station is Beit Dagon. Beit Dagon is the nuclear terminal of the State of Israel. The seeds are imported to Beit Dagon through the port. Birds can regularly be seen flying around Beit Dagon, enjoying the seeds that have fallen around. Beit Dagon is the largest grain grower in Israel.

new and old

In the lower city you can see houses built over 100 years ago, alongside buildings built in recent years or renovated. One of the oldest cafes is 'Cafe Shani' on Independence Road, which opened in 1964.

The Turkish market

The Turkish market was renewed with a huge investment. Originally it was an old commercial center that was established in 1927. The center includes Nachum Dobrin, Natan (Kaiserman) streets and Thessaloniki community.

Nahum Dobrin

Nachum Dobrin (1897-1951) was a public activist from Haifa, a prisoner of Zion in Russia. Natan (Kaiserman) Street was named after Natan Kaizerman (1863-1945), who was an agronomist, banker and public activist. The Thessaloniki community street got its name from the Jews, who immigrated to Israel from Thessaloniki and settled in Haifa.

government quarters

The government building is named after the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The building includes the missile building and the adjacent treasury building and the courts.

schools

In the lower city you can find the Nazareth Nuns' School, which every year reaches a very high percentage of eligibility in the matriculation. This is a private school, attended by an Arab population. Alkarma Public School is also located in the neighborhood. According to Arab residents, they send their children to a private school because the municipality does not offer an alternative at the same level. In recent years, a great effort has been made to strengthen the schools of the state education in the Arab sector so that they can compete with the private schools, but it is not easy.

How much does it cost?

The Madeleine website shows that a 4-room apartment (89 square meters) was sold on Independence Road for 760 NIS. This is a building built in 2018. A 3-room apartment (64 square meters) was sold on Shibat Zion Street, which was built almost with the establishment of the state in 1950, at a price of NIS 400. In total, according to the site, the average price of an apartment in the neighborhood is 850 thousand NIS.

In the end, the lower city offers many entertainment places and academic educational institutions, but a young couple who will come to the neighborhood and want to raise children there, will have a hard time finding suitable educational institutions for them or playgrounds to spend time in.

The lower city can give hope to every other neighborhood in Haifa, that with desire and money it is possible to do a real facelift.