An Israeli saying goes,
‘Jerusalem prays and Tel Aviv plays’.
Consequently, Tel Aviv is the social hub of Israel and its range
of entertainment from highbrow to hip cannot be matched anywhere
else. Israelis of all ages and preferences take their weekend fun
and socialising very seriously.
Young people
particularly like to party with all their energy, especially those
under 21 who are consigned to the army during the rest of the week
(Israeli men and women continue to serve a mandatory 3 year period
of service until they reach their 21 st birthday). There is little
evidence in Tel Aviv of Shabbat as a time of quiet rest and prayer:
nightlife is actually at its most vibrant after Shabbat starts on
Friday night (the working week runs from Sunday to mid afternoon
Friday), while Thursday is another big night out.
Strangely enough, though, drunkenness is rare,
most Israeli kids think it’s un cool to drink. There is no
bar hopping or pub crawling and while there is plenty of energy
and noise, violent behaviour is almost unheard of in Tel Aviv.
Clubs and pubs come and go
fast, with famous names declining overnight. Allenby Street is the
central spot for bars and clubs, with more than 20 clubs within
one small area, offering house, disco, funk and techno. Several
of the venues are gay. The scene here looks like Amsterdam, with
a very international crowd keeping very late hours, sometimes aided
by several stimulants.
As in most cosmopolitan cities, the dress code
varies from 1 club to another, however, in Tel Aviv casual wear
is pretty much acceptable in most places. The chic and stylish ones,
however employ a ‘selectorit’, a daunting door woman
who decides if she thinks you’re cool enough to come in. For
a more sophisticated or older crowd, plenty of other venues offer
cabaret, as well as jazz, rock and folk music.
Most bars are usually open and licensed
until 3.00 am / 4.00 am, while clubs will keep their doors open
until 6.00 am / 7.00 am, charging anything from NIS 50 to NIS 80
cover charge. As a rule of thumb, most clubs in the city will not
start warming up until after 2.00 am and not peak until 4.00 am.
The legal drinking age in Israel is 18 years and
the average price for a drink is between NIS 15 and NIS 30.
Bars
Camelot,
16 Shalom Aleikhem Street, is stylish (dress up for this 1) and
famous for great live jazz and rock from Israeli bands. M.A.S.H.,
Dizengoff Street, is a desired English hangout for a drink and burger,
whilst sports TV bar Wrigley, 114 Hayarkon Street,
is popular with Americans.
Allenby Street is extremely popular for nightlife. Joey’s
Brothers Bar, at number 16, is an English pub total with
English beers, and English customers. For something more authentically
Israeli, brace yourself for the decibels at My Coffee Shop,
Bar 39, 39 Allenby Street, a hectic, stylish all day and all night
music bar. Sheinkin Street also hosts a selection of ultra trendy
café - bars, in recent years, this area has also become a
fashionable shopping haunt for ultra hip Israelis.
Casinos
Gambling is not allowed anywhere in Israel.
Clubs
The club scene will change from week to week and month to month,
please check local listings to find out what’s really hot.
The section of Allenby Street close to Carmel market
remains the heart of Tel Aviv’s club land (though you’d
never know it until about 2.00 am).
Allenby 58,
58 Allenby Street, is Tel Aviv’s most famous nightclub and
switches between its original venue at 58 Allenby Street and its
summer venue, at Octopus in the Old Tel Aviv Port. Nearby, The
Scene, at 56 Allenby Street, on Mondays is the number 1
spot for young gay Israelis and their friends, playing uplifting
house in intimate surroundings.
Fetish,
15 Rambam Street off Nachalat Binyamin, draws the crowds for deep
house, funk and jazz and (especially Saturday and Wednesday). The
Dolphinarium, HaYarkon Street, now refurbished after bomb
damage, hosts FFF on Friday night, right beside the sea.
Dinamo Dvash, 59 Abarbanel Street, is a small very
underground club in the heart of the trendy Florentin section of
Tel Aviv. It is believed to be the place to go for cutting edge
electronic music, with international guest DJs. Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday night are crowded for funk, techno, groove and trance.
The venue only holds 450 people, so it is best to arrive early.
Lemon, also in the Florentin district
at 17 Hanagarim Street, is a personal space in vibrant surroundings,
with an open terrace. It has gay nights (usually Mondays), as well
as ‘over 28’ nights (which are generally Thursdays).
Go further south into Jaffa for Moadon Hateatron,
10 Jerusalem Boulevard, popular with the younger end, this is a
large dance space and bar, sometimes hosting live bands.
Cultural Events
Held each year in mid August for 4 days and comprising over 70 music,
theatre, dance and art exhibitions, Jaffa Nights
is Israel’s largest street-staged event. In the evenings,
Old Jaffa is closed to traffic as stages are erected in plazas,
squares and alleyways. All events are free and visitors number 10's
of 1000's.
For classical music lovers, it is well worth making the short trip
up the coast to The International Opera Festival
in Caesarea (generally in June). Launched in 2000, the festival
is situated in the stunning Roman amphitheatre at Caesarea, south
of Haifa.
Visitors who come to Israel in October should take
a trip to Rishon Le-Zion (situated 40 kilometres / 25 miles south
of Tel Aviv) to indulge in Israel’s 2 day Wine Festival. While
sampling wines from the country’s best vineyards, visitors
can enjoy performances by some 2,500 musicians
Dance
Tel Aviv’s main venue for modern and classical dance is the:
Suzanne Della Centre
Address 5-6 Yehieli Street, in the Neve Zedek quarter
Telephone: (03) 510 5656
Facsimile: (03) 517 9634
Website address: www.suzannedellal.org.il
Home of the Inbal (telephone: (03) 517 3711) and Batsheva (telephone:
(03) 517 1471) dance companies, the Centre has 4 performance halls
surrounding a square used for outdoor performances. Founded by Martha
Graham in 1964, the Batsheva Dance Company is Israel’s most
highly praised contemporary dance troupe. Another interesting modern
dance company is Bat Dor, featuring works by renowned modern choreographers.
Address: 30 Ibn Givrol Street
Telephone: (03) 696 3175
For classical dance, the Israel Ballet company performs at Tel Aviv
Performing Arts Center Comprising 30 dancers, this much celebrated
company performs an international repertoire of classical, neo classical
and contemporary works.
Address: 19 Shaul Hamelech Boulevard
Telephone: (03) 696 6610
Dance in Israel is popular, this website
provides information on dance as a whole.
Film
Israel has its own movie industry,
however most films being shown are foreign imports. These are generally
subtitled in Hebrew, while maintaining their original soundtrack,
American films often reach Israel before the United Kingdom, giving
British visitors a chance to enjoy sneak previews of the latest
Hollywood blockbusters.
By contrast, the arthouse style movies screened
at the Tel Aviv Cinemathèque, 2 Sprinzak
Street (telephone: (03) 691 7181) are mostly subtitled in English.
The Cinematèque screens premiers of short and full-length
Israeli films every evening and also holds a range of film festivals
including the Student Film Festival, the Jazz, Film and Videotape
Festival and Salute to Israeli Cinema.
The mainstream cinemas in the city centre are Dizengoff
1-3, 1-3 Dizengoff Centre (telephone: (03) 620 0485), and Gordon
(telephone: (03) 524 4373) on the corner of Ben Yehuda Street and
Gordon Street. New films always begin showing on Thursdays. Present
movie listings can be seen in Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post.
Literary Notes
Haim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934) is celebrated as the 1st
Hebrew literary figure of the modern age. He was Israel’s
national poet but also an novelist and a champion of the Hebrew
language. In the City of Slaughter (1904) was commended as a powerful
statement of anguish at the situation of the Jews during the early
part of the 20 th century. His house has been refurbished and opened
as a museum (22 Bialik Street, telephone: (03) 525 4530).
More recently, In the Land of Israel (1982), by Amos Oz
(born Jerusalem 1939), is a timeless poignant work, drawing from
experiences the author made with religious Jews, Palestinians and
new immigrants to convey the plight of the Israeli people. Almost
rivalling Oz in his collection of international accolades is David
Grossman (born in Jerusalem 1954).
Grossman’s
See Under, Love (1997) is a heartfelt novel, whose central
character, Momik, is the only child of 2 Holocaust survivors, confronting
the darkness of his ancestry. His novels have drawn comparison to
Gabriel García Márquez for their serious, yet poetic
rendering.
More accessible, more popular than either Oz or Grossman, the novelist,
poet, playwright and essayist A B Yehoshua (born
Jerusalem 1936) also deals in altering ways with the difficulties
of the Israelis’ situation. His early work having been more
symbolic, he moved to a realistic style with The Lover (1975), about
the Yom Kippur War. 1 of his most admired novels, Mr Mani (1993)
is a 6 generational epic of a wandering Jewish family.
Nahum Gutman (1890 to 1980), winner of the coveted
Israel Prize, was 1 of the country’s most influential painters
and writers. Born in Telenesty, Bessarabia, he immigrated to Palestine
with his family, at the age of 7, in 1905. Although he is largely
known for his work as a visual artist, Gutman was also an talented
writer of children’s books. His former home has recently been
converted to a museum in the Neve Zedek area of Tel Aviv (21 Rokach
Street, telephone: (03) 516 1970). Interestingly, the house also
served as the editorial offices for the political newspaper, Young
Laborer, from 1907 to 1914, and was the home for many other renowned
authors, including the political writer Y H Brenner.
Music
Tel Aviv has long been and remains home of several of the world’s
leading classical conductors and
soloists, including Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman, as well as Leonard
Bernstein (1918 to 1990) and Isaac Stern (1920 to 2001), and attracts
many guest musicians and conductors of the standing of Lorin Maazel,
music director of the New York Philharmonic, and Pinchas Zukerman
(a native of the city), Music Director of the National Arts Centre
Orchestra of Canada.
The Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra was founded in Tel Aviv by Jewish settlers as the
Palestine Orchestra in 1936 in
the midst of anti Jewish violence. Numerous leading European musicians
dismissed from their jobs due to the rise of Nazism fled to Israel
and found positions with the Philharmonic. The Indian conductor
Zubin Mehta took over in 1969. The orchestra, now considered 1 of
the world’s best, gives more than 150 performances each year
and is today housed at the main music hall, Frederic Mann Auditorium,
1 Huberman Street (telephone: (03) 629 5092).
The Tel Aviv Symphony Orchestra is situated at
the city’s Ohel Shem Auditorium, Balfour Street (telephone:
(03) 525 2266). The orchestra plays an active role in the cultural
life of the country and of Tel Aviv, participating in numerous yearly
events including Vocalisa (a choral festival held
at different venues around Israel at Shavuot) and Jaffa Nights.
With only 800 seats it is best to book in advance.
The Israel Chamber Orchestra (telephone: (03) 696
116) is based at the Tel
Aviv Museum, 27 Shaul Hamelekh Boulevard. For opera, the New
Israeli Opera is housed in the new Opera House:
Address: Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, 28 Leonardo Da Vinci Street
Telephone: (03) 692 7707 or 7777
Facsimile: (03) 692 7733
Email: opera@mail.israel-opera.co.il
Website address: www.israel-opera.co.il
Each season the company stages 7 productions, often with internationally
reputed foreign directors, conductors and singers.
Large scale open air rock and pop
concerts by international stars are often staged at Yehoshua Gardens,
Rokach Boulevard, close to the University. Logos, Nahalat Binyamin,
features Israeli rock and blues performances every night from 11.00
pm.
Theatre
Despite the lack of foreign visitors in the last 2 years, theatre
in Israel continues to thrive and productions at the following theatres
are impressive.
Cameri Theatre
Address: 101 Dizengoff Street
Telephone: (03) 527 9888
Website address: www.cameri.co.il
Habima Theatre
Address: 1 Tarsat Street
Telephone: (03) 629 6071
Website address: www.habima.org.il
Approximately 60 of Israel’s leading actors form the Cameri
Theatre’s permanent company, which puts on
a diverse selection of original Israeli creations, selected world
classics and contemporary dramas. The company stages 10 to 14 new
productions each year, attracting a wide audience in addition to
its 27,000 subscribers.
The Habima National Theatre
of Israel was founded in 1917 and at present stages 15 productions
per season. Touring widely, the company has performed at major drama
festivals including those in London, Paris and Berlin. Audiences
seeking an alternative evening’s entertainment will enjoy
the Israeli Yiddish Theatre Company, frequently on stage in Tel
Aviv, usually at ZOA
House, 1 Daniel Frisch Street (telephone: (03) 695 9341). Gesher
Theatre, 4 Nahmani Street (telephone: (03) 566 4888), founded
by Russian immigrants, specialises in both Russian and Hebrew plays.
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