With your back to the sea and your head to Carmel
The regenerating Haifa was built with its back to the sea and its head there, to the heights of Carmel, while creating an illusion of economic-social status that defined the population of Haifa for decades.
The trend of Haifa's gentrification has become the construction vision of the city: neighborhood islands without continuity and a textural connection to the old heart of the city, shopping malls that destroyed the commercial center in Hadar, abandoned by its old residents and filled with immigrants and new populations, who chose it out of choice and some willingly.
Only memories remain
Generations of Haifaites grew up in the Carmel Ridge who do not know what Haifa looks like beyond the Horev center, the Carmel center, and the roads leading to the coastal road. Haifa elderly people who grew up in Hadar and moved to Carmel during their lifetime, have not been in Hadar for decades and they only have memories of it. Even the center of Carmel, which was the stronghold of hiccups and Eastern Europe, is no longer what it used to be: only memories remain of the staircase complex of the mythical Rothschild House. Other mythical Haifa institutions were closed a long time ago and new ones arose in their place. The Carmel center lost its old and unique charm many years ago and at the same time a process took place in which a revival took place in other areas of the city.
The black holes in the heart of the city: Hadar, Talpiot, Lower City and the beach neighborhoods
In the process of abandoning the heart of the city and the longing for the luxury of Psagot air, places that were once the best places to be were abandoned: Talpiot Market, the place where all of Haifa and its surroundings came to shop, lost its appeal when polished alternatives arose and were closer to home, the Kriya population no longer came to it For the same reasons he faded away.
The bustling streets of Hadar such as Herzl and Halutz were dotted with more and more closed shops, shops selling cheap goods and metal shutters that extinguished the appearance of the shop windows that sparkled in the dark, giving the appearance of a happy city even at night. When Hadar was filled with expatriates from the Commonwealth of Nations in the 90s, its position in the public was determined as a slum. The waves of immigration of an Arab population to it have turned it into an off-limits area in general. The concept: immigrants and new immigrants - became a threat to all those who were new immigrants a few decades earlier.
For rent and sale
The lower city was in the process of accelerated decline and abandonment of the port area and the alleys of the old city which were the historical memory of Haifa before the establishment of the state, a concentration of shipping and trading companies and the access to Israel's sea gate and the beloved sailors' stalls. Entire buildings stood abandoned and alleys where shops and commercial establishments operated closed their doors and placed signs: for rent and for sale.
Bat Galim, Haifa's first historic neighborhood located on the waterfront, was also filled with a population of immigrants and immigrants. In its historical houses, which are similar to palaces that have known beautiful days - the ravages of time were clearly visible and the tenants did not have the money to renovate them. Only crazy people in the neighborhood continued to live in it next to the residents of the navy base and the medical school who kept the rental potential there.
Poverty or no choice
The neighborhoods that kiss Haifa's coastline were content with the tag of slums or a residential refuge of no choice. From Bat Galim to Neve David.
There is nothing to talk about on the Kishon side at all. Who wants to end up in this stinking puddle of death? Even the charming and well-invested park that was erected next to the old fishing and yachting anchorage, failed to convince the population of Haifa to come in droves to hang out there. Those who nevertheless came were amazed by the atmosphere of the sea and the real harbor that prevails there.
Wadi Nissens Wadi Salib
Two different places whose only common denominator is the word 'Wadi' and the Arabic sound of the name. and Eddie Nissens It was always a lively place of residence and commerce. The residents of Haifa are used to having stores open on Shabbat in the city where you can easily and naturally obtain food products with the charm of another place, bloody vegetables and fruits as well as non-kosher meat. The 'Holiday of the Holidays' joined the experience of visiting the Wadi and turned the Arab area of Haifa into a place that represents its uniqueness, and is sought after far beyond the borders of the city. With the awakening of culinary awareness, Wadi Nissens became the heart of Haifa cuisine, which says a lot about Haifa's authentic roots.
Abandoned and sword
Wadi Salib It has been standing abandoned and broken for over 70 years, as the severe and unhealing wound of Haifa. The depth of his story is told in hundreds of years and is connected to historical events that happened in Haifa and our region. The character of his houses, or what is left of them, precisely sharpens the identity of those who built and lived in them - the Arabs who lived in those times in Haifa. During the War of Independence, the old settlers were expelled or smuggled out of their homes. Tens of thousands of new immigrants from distressed elevators settled in their place, until the place was evacuated after the riots in 1959. There were a few residents left in Wadi who refused to leave. Most of its empty houses were destroyed by a deliberate policy and what remains is in a difficult condition that requires thorough restoration.
In 2010, I met Ofer Schwarzglass, who grew up there and returned to it as an adult and with a family out of a conscious and ideological choice to live in his childhood neighborhood. After a few years, the place has already become a desirable real estate center. The neighborhood project was established there - whatever is said about it, cannot take away from the fact that it created a very uncharacteristic fact of life and made living in the area a consensus.
The nearby flea market has become a popular and well-known market throughout the country, crowded and packed with domestic tourists and buyers, especially on the weekends. In the market itself, new shops have sprung up that have turned the second hand into trendy vintage, led by the leaders of the renewal in the place: Gabriela "Mafem" and "Bova Zahava".
Masada Street - the pioneer of the urban revival
On a cold winter evening in 1979, I was looking to buy natural wool to knit a sweater. The saleswoman at the store in the center of Carmel said that it is not available at her place, but she knows that there is someone on Masada Street who weaves her own natural wool for sale.
I was a self-indulgent Neve who discovered the Carmel a few years earlier. I had never been to Masada Street before even though Hadar was a central part of my life, but it ended up being between the market and Nordau Street.
I drove the Carmelite going down to the city and got off at the station on Masada Street. I followed the address, entered the yard through an iron gate, climbed the stairs in an old stone house and knocked on an old turquoise wooden door when I feel that I have arrived at a place that reminds me of Jerusalem which was a place full of charm and bohemian in those years. I marked Masada Street as a place I must get to know.
8 years later, the house in Masada at the Peace Corner was the address of Lior's nanny - the home of my eldest daughter who walked hand in hand with the nanny, a new immigrant from Romania among the old shops in Masada, the antique shops that kept multiplying and it had Ketan Coffee, the first and pioneering coffee that marked the beginning of the flowering of Masada Street, which became the symbol of the renewed urbanism in Haifa. It was called the Haifai Sheinkin and later Florentin, the stronghold of the hipsters and other names that changed with the changing fashions. The street has become a representative symbol of Haifa and a point of attraction for those coming from outside it. The street and its surroundings have difficult crises and influences, but Masada Street as an authentic Haifa urban entity is alive and kicking and I hope it will continue.
The story of the renewal of Masada Street has already continued in the direction of the fourth decade and it continues. A reality that even Sheinkin Street did not survive. However, during the last few years, new centers of interest have arisen in the closed and forgotten places of Haifa, which seem destined to die out and become an area that has no power.
Next in line: Lower City, Talpiot and Hadar
Urban renewal like it happened in European cities has always happened in places that seem destined to be forgotten and become a black hole. The regenerating population does not live according to the stories of the past, but seeks to reinvent the place in accordance with its needs, with current concepts while taking inspiration from other cases in the world.
Reality has turned upside down
The abandoned and abandoned downtown began to be inhabited by an unusual population in 2005, when the wing's group of artists came to live and work in it and from it on Harbor Street. Yona Yahav, the mayor at the time, recognized the potential and started a process of revitalizing the downtown. With all the criticism of what was done and inappropriate tools, the result today is a bustling underground city that offers a space for entertainment and cuisine that was hard to imagine in the first years of the process.
The reality has turned upside down: from the heights of the Carmel there have been claims that the lower city has usurped the entertainment center of the Carmel. The Carmelite became more and more essential after years of driving almost empty. When the Carmelite was shut down for half a year to have parts replaced, a crowd of its enthusiasts gathered at the used bookstore 'Goldmond' on Masada Street and dedicated an evening of poems and prose to the Carmelite in the hope of its return soon.
Possible near the house
10 years after the pioneers of Hanamal Street and the lower city came the Talpiot restaurant by Ilan Lahat Peron, the pioneer of the urban renewal in the Talpiot market. Those who never thought they would ever set foot in the dying market found themselves going again and again to sit in a restaurant and enjoy the unfamiliar urban aroma in Haifa. Many Haifa women and men from Haifa knew the cowboys of Barcelona, went to the port in Tel Aviv, to the Mahane Yehuda market, to the Carmel market to smell the markets there and did not imagine that it was possible near home.
further
In the radius around Talfiot, new restaurants were built, new residents moved in, bought and rented apartments, and the start-up began to gain momentum. In the last year, the building and the roof at Sirkin 21 began operating and draws crowds of people from Haifa and beyond. What seemed impossible in the past seems obvious today. Happily, things are also spreading to a wider radius in the market: Arabesque on Lunz Street - at one end behind the abandoned Ron Cinema and at the other end reaching Shapira Street: Sirkin 5, HQRN and a place for singing. Around the corner is Shapira Street in a disgraceful and appalling state from which one can and should only move to another place.
do not disturb
Significant buds are also happening on Halutz Street and on the corner of Halutz Yehiel Street. A street that was once the heart of Haifa's commercial center. In the building where the Glick swimwear factory was located, an art school operates today: the prophets. The artists of the lower city left the place that no longer suited them and moved their work to a place that was said to have no prospects. The geographical connection between Talfiot, the corner of Halutz Yehiel, the laundry cafe that has been operating for years near where the Histadrut used to be, will bear fruit in the future. All that is needed is trust and real action. In the reality of the municipality today, it should mainly act according to what the developers tell it and not interfere.
Bat Galim
Bat Galim became a sought-after commodity when the real estate business began, ventures outside the city. It is hard to understand how the only neighborhood located on the waterfront, with its unique architectural properties and pleasant houses, escaped the Haifaites. But I have already mentioned the Haifaite desire to live at the top of the mountain and to feel elevated and respected.
Unsentimental real estate developers hunted properties in the neighborhood, evicted old residents, demolished old houses and built in their place homes with soulless but sought-after modern design. The mental change permeated and real estate prices in Bat Galim soared to unimaginable heights. The kiosk that was closed for many years at the end of Sderot Bat Galim is back in operation as a 'Millhouse' and attracts people who sit on the old boulevard decorated with Washington palms and look out to the sea and the casino building waiting for salvation.
A large crowd comes to the new and well-invested restaurants that have been built in the place where the old and empty "Yutbata in the city" used to be. Mass Shabbat walks are held along the boardwalk and the activity of loyal and veteran surfers has also become an attraction, even though nothing has changed for them. Bat Galim has always been a sought-after surfing center and loved by everyone who prefers a beach like it used to be.
Kishon Park and Nahal Saadia - saving them and returning them to the public depends only on us
On the last Friday of Hanukkah, the Union of Cities for Environmental Quality and the Kishon Stream Authority organized a morning of fun and environment for families in Kishon Park. Families with their children came to the event and engaged in artistic activities and games on environmental issues, recycling and sustainability. Perhaps this is an opening shot for the park to become the property of humans and not a place of residence for containers and marshes as planned by the Ports Authority.
Not far from Kishon Park is Nahal Saadia, near the check post and the Carmel tunnels. The stream is receiving attention and visits, thanks to the fight led by Eric Drobot for its preservation.
Nahal Saadia does not yet have strong organizations or entrepreneurs with intentions for the environment to take its patronage. The real estate agents invested in the area do not intend to give up their liter of meat. The Haifa Municipality is silent in the face of the protest and does not give it any support or armor in the face of the future intention to build on the site and destroy this natural treasure forever. Saving it and turning the place into a natural and magnificent ecosystem for the benefit of all of us depends only on us.
We are the people we have been waiting for
The new Haifa history proves that the Haifa public is thirsty for innovations and immediately votes with their feet when they have an interest in a place. When there are those who lead and lead the process in one single entrepreneurship - within a short period of time the reality may change from one end to the other. The reality speaks for itself.
Sirkin 5 is frequently mentioned. As someone who Sirkin 5 was her second home. My grandfather Moshe Farji rented the place at Sirkin 5 back in 1935 and managed from there a warehouse of bags of green coffee for the roasters in the city and all over the north of the country including of course the city of Nazareth and all the roasters there received the green coffee from him. After him my father Eliyahu Farji continued the position and my husband Nissim Bakr joined my father and when my father died I went to work with my husband at Sirkin 5. Therefore I do not understand what the place is mentioned about today and what makes it special. I know that architects sit in our store. When I came to the place I made sure that there was an office separate from the warehouse. I sat there for years with my husband. Until we closed the place in 1965.
Haifa was hit very hard, humanly, because of the Likud coming to power, which in exchange for political partnership with anti-Zionist movements transferred huge budgets to open a Gush Emunim state and, in order not to upset, began to develop the Gush Dan state as well. This is how it happens that young people immigrate to the state of Tel Aviv and leave behind cities without a chance to flourish economically. This is not noticeable when it comes to a distant development town, but it is very noticeable when it comes to the third largest city [still] in Israel. Anyone who travels downtown sees how every business that closes down becomes a business owned by minorities, many of them immigrants from the Galilee and the Triangle. Even in Hadar, the situation is no different. Haifa has grown secular, modern, liberal Zionists, but no urban opening will change the city's future - to perish - because it is the future of the entire Zionist enterprise. Available soon.
Not accurate. The Likud government did not discriminate against Haifa, on the contrary, many budgets were transferred to Yona Yahav.
The young people run away from the city because there is no future in it. The current mayor does nothing and the city is going backwards.
Just a great article.
Without ranting, without mincing words - snapshots of a neglected city in a country burning with happenings and renewal.
True, there are buds. Because when the generals screw up, there are soldiers who take leadership.
But a cafe here and a market there are not a picture of an exciting and happening city.
As a road teacher, I am always embarrassed by the difference between Haifa and other cities.
Beer Sheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Netanya and of course the central cities.
Haifa is a city of almost street art,
The gardens are outdated.
In a country that is constantly growing in population, Haifa continues to shrink or freeze.
The highest property tax in Israel finances huge investments in grandiose ventures: Matron, stadium, cable car.
And so the roads are not paved, the potholes are growing, the sidewalks are simply repulsive, and to get angry, this is especially noticeable on the most prestigious streets (see the rodeo on Sderot Zvi).
The state of the prices of the Danan sums up the whole story: in order of size, a 3-room apartment in the center costs 3 million, in Jerusalem 2 million and in Haifa a million.
Therefore, as the article states, the populations that join it do so out of a lack of choice.
And those who have a grudge in his hand, young people for example, leave.
That's not how you build a city!
Thanks for the article.
I grew up in Bat Galim in the 50s and 60s right on the boardwalk of that time, before the expansion. We had a happy childhood there. The neighborhood penetrated all of us deeply into the soul. Over the years, my parents moved from Bat Galim, to Meginim street. And from there to Ramat Hadar, to one of the highest floors. Although the view from the apartment on the 17th floor was gorgeous, the place lacked soul. I have lived in Los Angeles for many years. Every time I visit my homeland, I go down to Bat Galim. It was painful to see the neglect of the neighborhood. It is not understood how such a gem on the seashore remained so abandoned. I recently heard that there is a renewed interest in the neighborhood, and it warms my heart.
It's a shame that my comment about your exile was deleted. The Jew with you is always a diaspora compared to authenticity and Eddy Nissens and Slev, etc. This is a severe and incurable syndrome among the exiled leftists and I suggest that you pack your authenticity in Berlin and Budapest. There is a limit to how much we can tolerate from the city council, and the ten years in which you were removed from the city council is a cultural prosperity of any time you tried to appropriate it through your representatives, whom no Tivor in the city wanted until the public was misled by the addition of Dov Hayon, who is also trusted by the public to correct in the elections The following. You are simply not worthy.
A very interesting article that mentions oblivion, thank you
In my opinion, there is a lack of reference to Hecht Park, Shekmona National Park, the food trucks along the Shekmona Promenade and the connection between the Behad Promenade and the student beach.
The stretch of beach that has opened since the establishment of Hecht Park is one of the significant changes that have happened in the city in the last decade.
On the day of Hadar Matan, the movie theaters that were there died one after the other, followed by the falafels on Halutz Street who made money from every good movie that was shown.. The independence days that were celebrated on Herzl Street moved to neighborhood entertainment stages, the small stores can't compete with the malls and closed... so maybe there is something to miss but It will be difficult to return the crown to its former glory
I liked the article.
It's a shame that you didn't write about the Ziv center in Nash.
A lively place during the day and even more so in the evenings.
with street restaurants and pubs.
The Ziv Center maintains a stability of activity since I can remember. I am a native of Neve Shanan since the 60s and the Ziv center has always been bustling and opulent and has not reached a state of deterioration and turning it into a no man's land like I described with the intention of showing that it is possible to turn a discouraging situation into an exciting and vibrant reality. I can only be happy about that and hope that Neve Shanan and its centers will only grow and flourish in a pluralistic and interesting existence.
You got confused...
The revival of the Talfiot area began before the current term, but received a serious boost in the last three years with the establishment of the parishes that brought more and more places to eat. The renovation of the bastions and roofs and the highlight, the renovation of the historic building of the market - one of the most beautiful "Bauhaus" buildings in the world.
When did the dozens of bars and restaurants in the lower city open? Do the math... since when are social sites flooded with posts from people outside of Haifa who come and are delighted with what the city has to offer?
And Nahal Saadia is being treated and restored while you drip poison in your article...
Rabbi Einat Kalish Rotem: "Every criminal knew that the Haifa Bay area has ended its role as a pirate waste dumping site. We will continue to work with determination to restore the Saadia stream, which is a stream of high ecological value and one of the most sensitive habitats in Haifa."
The employees of the operations director of the Haifa municipality have begun thorough cleaning operations in the area, as part of which construction waste, scattered along the stream, is being removed.
In addition, the enforcement actions against the river's polluters will be increased, and they include, among other things: providing a report, increasing patrols and ambushes, and the use of modern technological means."
Shabbat Shalom.
Irit Yifarah is a funny woman like you, you feel like you don't really live in Haifa but in the comment team of Klish.
In April 2021, the two prosecutors were brought to the Talpiot market and according to you, they caused the transformation from a restaurant and a half to a desirable entertainment area, that is, minus the quarantine period of the Corona virus, and considering that this happened two and a half years after Einat entered the mayor's office, then according to you, in the last 8 months, the demand for entertainment in the Talpiot market grew and soared only because of two Proctors who serve two restaurants. Apparently, in Shkotalphia, food businesses are opened on the basis of the expectation of a sale. Not related to personal daring, risk taking and financial investment.
If you go down from the Carmel center to the market, you will be able to see from the restaurants and businesses that have opened regardless of the paralects, despite the illogical closure order for the roof of Sirkin 21 (which was immediately canceled by the court of justice) and the disregard of the Darim fund and the activity of Sirkin 5, the deteriorating security and cleanliness situation that would not have arisen without civil activity and caring residents On the agenda and the consciousness of the municipality. At the moment mostly in announcements, ridiculous photos of Klish walking in the market and too few actions.
Renovation of the market structure. have you been there recently The last thing you can feel in this place is that something is being renovated or the results of the imperceptible renovation.
Posts and blogs. Flooding the network? Are you talking about Aliran Tal's imported army of bloggers? Sponsored articles in The Marker? Because I don't see these. But there are indeed posts and blogs and even I have led several tours and write non-stop about these places. What does this have to do with cliche or its activity? Usually what you see there is the lack of presence of the current municipality and its failures in the face of the individual and community business entrepreneurship that has arisen despite its cliche and failed management. You should hear what is being said about her in the field. It's really embarrassing.
Nahal Saadia undergoing rehabilitation and treatment? Good morning, after many months of ignoring the determined struggle of Eric Drobot, who said about the recent scrap removal that was done under the orders of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and harsh criticism of Klish who, as usual, takes a ride on the work of others and tries to present the instructions of the ministries and authorities, which force her to act - on her own initiative. But the public knows the truth.
This is Drobot's own quote. Please read:
Eric Drobot, the leader of the struggle for the restoration of Nahal Saadia, was much less enthusiastic about the municipality's announcement, to say the least: "It's a spin that is a waste of time. The Haifa municipality is actually doing what the Ministry of Environmental Protection ordered it to do, and it committed to doing so in August. Last week, we met several activists For the sake of the river with Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg, the minister made it clear that the ministry will act decisively with the authorities and the parties responsible for the pollution of the river. Currently, the ministry is working with the Haifa Municipality demanding the removal of construction waste from the area and increased enforcement. At the same time, it is working against water polluters. What the municipality is currently doing It's the removal of construction waste. Kalish Rotem stated back in August that they would remove the waste, but since August no one from Haifa Municipality has come here to do anything."
Irish, it's time to get out of the radius between the cinematheque and your apartment next to it and get to the places themselves, get to know the city and understand what's really going on and not react awkwardly based on cliche fantasies.
Haifa, my beautiful city, the district of my childhood, the city that shaped me until adulthood, I left it in 1983 but it is always in my heart, even though I live in the Upper Galilee, it will always remain my city and my heart is there in the beautiful Shikmona.
Every time you think about Haifa, the city where I was born, it saddens me to hear and experience for myself how such a beautiful place blessed by the sea and mountains is not rising, on the contrary, young people are leaving the city and moving to the center of the country, and sometimes their parents too. In the future I want in the term of my life to see how the city of Haifa becomes an object for our children to want and continue to work and establish themselves in the city and not abandon their eyes to other cities..
A rather sad article about the state of the city.
There are many reasons for what happened, the destruction and neglect.
I won't go into detail, I will just say that the decline of Hadar and the lower city happened during the tenure of the two previous mayors that for some reason some of the residents still admire them.
On the other hand, many of the residents blame the current municipality as if it must correct all the deficiencies in the blink of an eye.
It doesn't work that way... because destroying is easy and fast, on the other hand, restoring and building takes a lot of time, effort and patience.
Indeed, during the period of the previous two, many errors were made, mainly from the same concept that Carmel is the main thing. It must be said to Yahav's credit that he worked to revive the downtown when he recognized the processes.
The current municipality is mainly busy complaining about the previous terms of office, but its plans for Hadar are destructive and as for the rest of the city - they suffer from a complete misunderstanding and a perception of a ride on the lives of private people. It is best that the municipality does not interfere if it is unable to help.
Finally an article about the neglect we found in our city after 40 years of absence. The situation is shocking in every way, and the politicians' wars take up so much of their time that they don't have a spare head to deal with the real problems in the city.
Unforgivable. We need to have a big and sad funeral for a beautiful city that at one time rivaled Naples....
God forbid a funeral, the article talks about the fact that the places that have faded can be renewed with a contemporary vision and this is happening in a big way