Despite the lack of
licensing laws, Jerusalem has never been known for its wild nightlife
and if you’re looking to dance the night away your best bet
would be to follow the example of many Jerusalemites and take a
sherut the 60 kilometres (37 miles) to Tel Aviv. The night clubs
that do exist in Jerusalem tend to be situated in the Talpiot area,
are expensive and operate smart dress codes. Nightlife is even quieter
than usual at present due to worries about terrorist attacks and
East Jerusalem is predominantly empty after dark.
The legal drinking age is 18 years
old. Up to date listings for club nights can be
found in the Friday supplement of the Jerusalem
Post.
Bars
With a a small number of exceptions, alcoholic drinks are not available
in East Jerusalem or in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. If you
do want a drink in East Jerusalem, head for the Cellar Bar,
at the American Colony Hotel, Nablus Road, which is popular with
journalists and open until 3.30 am. Visitors should drink in moderation
or avoid walking around visibly under the influence.
Most bars are situated in west Jerusalem, with a handful to be found
in the Christian and Armenian Quarters of the Old City. Among the
most popular is the Tabasco Tearooms, 8 Aqabat
al-Taqiya (open from 8.00 am top 12.00 am), attached to a budget
hostel of the same name (consequently popular with backpackers).
The friday night Punch Party allows you to drink as much punch as
you like.
Jerusalem’s 1st Internet bar, Strudel, 11
Monbaz, is also good for food and drink (and open until at least
12.00 am and until 2.00 am on Saturdays). Zanzibar, 13 Shamai, is
still a popular, trendy bar that caters to a sophisticated yuppie
clientele (open until 3.00 am).
Tzoof Bar, 15 Hebron Road (open from noon until 2.00 am
Saturdays and Sundays), with its arched entrances, brick walls and
floor and ambient lighting, summons up the Old City, and serves
a mix of drinks including cocktails, and sometimes shows stand up
comedy and live jazz. 1 of the city’s liveliest areas, Nahalat
Shiv’ah, can be found of Soloman Street just outside the city
walls, it is a polular for cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants at
all time of day, but especially at night.
Casinos
Gambling is illegal in Jerusalem.
Clubs
Most clubs are situated in west Jerusalem.
At Underground, 1 Yoel Salomon, there has been drinking and dancing
as long as anyone can remember. With 2 rooms of music (1 rock and
1 dance) it attracts Israelis and travellers alike.
Haoman 17, 17 Haoman Street, is still going strong, attracting
international DJ's and boasting 2 dance floors
where you can groove the night away to a mixture of house and techno.
Hata'asiyah Dance Club, Ha-Ta'asiya 5, is another large club popular
with the dance crowd, Fridays and Saturdays are the biggest nights.
Dance
Lovers of dancing will have no problem finding
what they want in Israel. The renowned Israel Ballet (Israel’s
national classical ballet company) performs chiefly in its home
town of Tel Aviv, with occasional productions in Jerusalem. Many
professional modern dance companies, most based in Tel Aviv, perform
throughout Israel and abroad, best known are Inbal Dance Theater
and Batsheva Dance Company, both based at the Suzanne
Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. In Jerusalem, Mechola,
43 Emek Refaim (telephone: (02) 563 6663), is a municipal dance
centre housing jazz and folk dance companies and workshops for children
and adults.
Film
The majority of foreign films in Jerusalem are screened in their
original version with Hebrew
subtitles. Among the most popular mainstream cinemas
are Ray Chen, in Talpiot (telephone: (02) 679 4477), and the GG
Gil, Jerusalem Mall, Malha Street (telephone: (02) 678 8448).
The Lev Smadar, 4 Lloyd George Street (telephone: (02) 561 8168),
is a highly regarded, nice and comfortable arthouse cinema. However,
the best place for cinema in Jerusalem is the Cinematheque, at the
Jerusalem Film
Centre, Hebron Road (telephone: (02) 565 4333). The Cinematheque
has 2 auditoria showing classics, critically acclaimed new releases
and foreign arthouse films.
Literary
Notes
Some of Israel’s supreme living
writers were born in the 1930's. Several of them
lived in Jerusalem at the start of the Arab - Israeli War, which
followed the foundation of Israel in 1948. Constant themes are the
conflict between the religious life of Judaism and the life of the
modern secular Jew, and the disagreement of Jerusalem as the holy,
eternal city of God and Jerusalem as the man made, political city
of human conflict.
A B Yehoshua deals
with these issues in his novel, The Lover (1977), which explains
a husband’s attempt to trace his wife’s lover, who disappeared
during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The husband discovers the man
living within a community of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem and attempts
to persuade him to rejoin the modern secular reality of life in
the city.
In Amos Oz’s novel, My Michael
(1968), the tension between violence and spiritual yearning in Jerusalem
leads to strains within a Jewish couple’s marriage as they
become more aware of both the danger and the hope offered by the
city’s Arab population.
Yehuda Amichai
(1924 to 2000) was 1 of the country’s most admired and most
successful writers. The author of more than 75 books, Amichai’s
works have been published around the world. Amichai was also much
admired for his love poems, it was his ability to capture the dynamics
of Israel’s inner tensions and historical evolution that proved
to be his most continuing contribution to Hebrew literature.
Music
The Henry Crown Symphony Hall, 5 Chopin Street,
is the home of the excellent Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra (telephone: (1700) 704 000). Tickets are
usually priced NIS 100 to NIS 150. The well known Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra (telephone: (02) 645 4647) rotates performances
between its main base in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. Visitors
to Jerusalem may find acquiring tickets for its concerts in the
city very difficult. Such is the level of devotion to the orchestra,
the ensemble boasts almost 30,000 season ticket holders, the largest
subscription public per capita in the world. When it performs in
Jerusalem, concerts are at the Binyanei Ha’oomah, 1 Shazar
Street, near the Central Bus Station (telephone: (02) 655 8558).
Although a wide selection of live
music venues can be found in both east and west Jerusalem, what
is on offer generally can not generally be described as exciting.
However, jazz is popular and often very good. Pargod Theatre, 94
Betzalel, hosts a Friday afternoon jam session, while Tmol Shilshom
Bookstore Café, 5 Yoel Salomon, has jazz on Mondays and folk
on Tuesdays (both from 11.00 pm). Folk musicians play at the AACI,
11 Pinsker, in Talbiya.
Pop concerts
(both foreign and Israeli groups) are sometimes held at the Jerusalem
Theatre, 20 David Marcus Street, in Talbiya. For live rock bands
try the downstairs bar at Arizona, 37 Jaffa Road, or Mike’s,
Horkanos Street, which has live rock and blues music nightly from
10.30 pm.
Theatre
Jerusalem’s most original theatre
for new plays and drama is probably the Khan Theatre, 2 David Remez
Square (telephone: (02) 671 8281), which performs 5 or 6 plays every
season. The repertory is divided between new plays from Israel and
around the world, classics and adaptations. Performances are usually
in Hebrew.
Devotees of experimental and avant-garde theatre should try to catch
performances at the Habima
Theatre, a 96 seat studio at Floor 4, 4 Yad Harozim (telephone:
(02) 625 4463, the websit is in Hebrew only). |
