My street has a website

Well, it's not exactly my street, but it is about 10 seconds' walk away from where I live. Sheinkin is synonymous with all that is trendy and cool in Israel, 'though there are some who use the term “Sheinkin types” as a derisive synonym for artsy-fartsy bleeding heart leftists.

That image is pretty outdated, 'though. Sheinkin has seen quite a few incarnations over the last 60 years. Once, during the 1930s and 1940s, it was elegant; then it was seedy and rundown for a long time. During the late 1980s it was discovered by the bohemian crowd and became a central meeting place for actors, musicians and writers. Now it' s roughly equivalent to – oh, West Broadway in Manhattan, Notting Hill in London or Queen Street West in Toronto. Briefly edgy but now mainstream trendy and somewhat commercialized.

I try to avoid Sheinkin on Fridays, the first day of the weekend, when half the teenagers from greater Tel Aviv gather to see and be seen. Traffic – both pedestrian and vehicular – slows to a crawl on that day as Yossi, Yoni, Osnat and Merav stop to greet all their friends.

Sheinkin on Friday

Anyhow, check out the site. It's got a history of the street, links to various shops, video of the day and more – so much more. You can even buy stuff online and have it sent to you.

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This entry was written by Lisa Goldman and posted on June 7, 2006 at 10:04 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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5 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

cool!
reminded me of the cafes in the Montreal plateau area..
hehe..”artsy fartsy leftists”

1. Anonymous
on March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for posting this link! I am buying a flat just near Beit Tami and it is fun to see all of this.
See you on Sheinkin! Carol

2. Anonymous
on March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
I finally got round to riding over to Gan Hahashmal. It reminded me of early eighties Sheinkin, in a way, long before Sheinkin got icky and commercialized. Very promising.
I don't like going to Sheinkin anymore. We used to have coffee there every Friday morning, when Eldest was little, before Youngest was born. It was already starting to get spoiled even then – the (artsy fartsy) shabbiness was getting artificial (if it wasn't always) – but it was a nice change from north Tel Aviv.
Today it's all too shiny, and the atmosphere on a Friday is not pleasant and laid back, like it used to be.
There seem to be so many nice alternatives for Friday morning coffees these days, Tel Aviv is hopping, but we never seem to get round to it. Oh well.

3. Anonymous
on March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Sheinkin is trying too hard and is too self-conscious — that is how I always feel every time I find myself there. But that's a little bit how I feel about Tel Aviv in general. I'll admit that I live in Europe, so when I go to Israel I'm looking for a city with some Middle Eastern flavour and so it's Jerusalem I'm interested in (and for country the Galil, and the Carmel and the whole area around Ramat HaShofet/Ramot Menashe/Dalia). Jerusalem is something you just won't find anywhere in Europe, while Tel Aviv always gives me the impression it's trying as hard as it can to be hip in western eyes. It makes me think of Milan trying to be New York. But maybe I'm wrong or unfair. That's the vibe I always get, though. But Jerusalem is really special. I know that Tel Aviv people including some of my own friends think Jerusalem is boring and totally unhip and absurdly religious, but to me it's fascinating. Scheinkin, you see it, you immediately know what it is. If you like that sort of thing, great. But there's not much there to think about or talk about. Jerusalem is living history.

4. Anonymous
on March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Hi Laila
I'm so glad you like our site.
It seems that everyone has a different opinion about Sheinkin!
If you'd like to write somethjing for our magazine, you are very welcome.
Regards
Michael

5. Anonymous
on March 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm