An alternate version

Harry photographed me in front of Delicatessen Boutique on Barzilai Street, in Tel Aviv's formerly seedy and now very trendy Gan HaHeshmal area (just a few minutes' walk from my place, which is important 'cause – you know – I need to be in the centre of the action at all times).

I was tagging along on the Youth Media tour – a press junket for American journalists who write for edgy publications like Paper and Bust. The idea was to get away from the cliched destinations like the holy sites in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem and the Knesset, and to show the Israel that very few (you can read that as close to zero) foreign correspondents bother to check out – let alone write about.

It's far away from the hothouse atmosphere of the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, where most of the correspondents hang out – when they're not attending press conferences with politicians or rushing off to find those violent stories that grab the headlines.

Allison (who blogged about the trip here and here) and Harry worked incredibly hard escorting the group around the country. Me, I just showed up a couple of times for the food and the company. Both were great.

Here's a photo of the boutique's interior:

And below is Idit Barak, the designer/owner who studied at FIT, trained with Norma Kamali - and then decided that New York was great and all, but Tel Aviv is home.

Now she's one of the movers and shakers in the cooperative of ultra-hip boutiques, cafes and bars that have sprung up around Gan HaHeshmal over the last year or so.

Harry's photos taken during the tour are on his Flickr account. Check 'em out, he's a really good photographer.

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This entry was written by Lisa Goldman and posted on June 1, 2006 at 1:43 am and filed under Main Page. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment(Latest is displayed first) or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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12 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

I got to experience Gan HaHeshmal up close and personal, all thanks to a certain Israeli woman who knows a thing or two about all the restaurants, boutiques and their owners. It's the coolest area of Tel Aviv (and so happens to closely resemble Beirut by the way)
Are you getting any sales commissions from this post?
Are you (dare I say it) accepting capitalism into your heart?

1. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
No sales commissions, but maybe a bit of a discount now and then if I ask nicely.
As for capitalism, I think we both like the non-muscular variety – the one with a human face. No?

2. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Has the nightlife in the gan changed as well? Last I heard it was the best place to find an underage male prostitute.

3. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Imshin, those days are loooong gone. (okay, about 18 months gone).
The whole gan has been really nicely renovated and landscaped; it's a totally different place. The rentboys and transvestites have moved on to less-green pastures.
Proof of the gan's gentrification: rents are up. Way up.

4. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Nice looking boutique but why are they hanging dresses on wire hangers?

5. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
They're actually stout metal hangers with a wire “look,” but they don't photograph very well.

6. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Hey Lisa
Apart from you looking good in the sunny Israel,though you might be interested in this website as well.Have a look.
http://www.ijchronicle.com/

7. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
The Youth Media Tour demands closer inspection. Is the Foreign Ministry's intention to persuade apolitical hipsters to adopt an Israeli worldview, which will be useful when the kids grow up and are in a position to vote for neo-conservatism with their American ballots? Or is the Tour in the innocent spirit of “the brotherhood of man”? You tell me.
To be really groundbreaking, the Tour should embrace the youth culture of both Palesinians and Israelis. Lisa, you wrote of the profound misperceptions Arabs and Israelis have of one another. Isn't this Tour, with it's think-outside-the-box aspirations, a missed opportunity to set aside every day politics and look at how young people on the planet's most contentious strip of land (the size of New Jersey!) actually live their daily lives?

8. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
There was an article about this junket in the local Jewish newspaper where my parents live. I'll bring it back for you when I return to Israel (I don't think it's accessible on line, but I'll check).

9. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
I still have no idea where this place is.

10. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
dear Lisa, I am an iranian woman and since HODER visited israel I have been following your blog. I really wish I can come and visit there one day.

11. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm
An Alternate Vision.
Now time for an Alternate message.
Yalla, give us something new. We're desperate.
OK. OK. I'm desperate. Late nights in front of the computer. Not wanting to do any more work. Just wanting to read about other people's issues.

12. Anonymous
on December 31st, 1969 at 6:59 pm