Evicted artists

January 24, 2011 - 8:37 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Art, Business, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life 

Photo credit: Jerusalem Post

A friend of mine may be getting evicted — from Hutzot Hayotzer, his Jerusalem workplace. Here’s the story: David Moss, the artist behind The Moss Haggadah and other Judaica works of art, is one of the twenty or so artists with a studio and showroom at the Hutzot Hayotzer artists’ colony, just outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem. Some of them have been in residence since the early 1970s, when Teddy Kollek established the place. Others, like Moss, have been there for shorter periods.

From the Moss Haggadah

But the idea behind the municipality-run colony is that the artists in residence had to be accepted by a city-appointed board, and would pay rent and then stay there permanently. With artists working and selling in the same place, the public could visit, peruse, perhaps buy, perhaps not. But the concept has remained vibrant and dynamic for the last 40 years.

A Motke Blum painting

Last December, tells David, all the artists received eviction notices from the city, telling them they had to be out in 14 days. They immediately began organizing themselves and hired a lawyer, and had successfully stayed the notice for the last year, with the agreement that they would pay 30% more. But the new year brought a fresh round of trouble and eviction notices for the artists, and they were recently told they have 30 days to get out. No matter that there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason for the eviction.

Liliane Landau (ceramics)

While they’ve been told that they’re ‘too old’, one of the group’s suspicions is that they’re being kicked out because of real estate development, another Mamilla or set of luxury apartments for the ‘hood. The city won’t admit to that, says David, instead claiming that the group of artists are refusing to pay rent, although that was never listed in the original complaint. They are, however, claiming that everyone will be evicted and then artists — including those who used to be in Hutzot Hayotzer — will have to reapply, a transparent method for getting who they would want into the space.

For David, it’s all very nerve-wracking and feels sleazy. While he calls Hutzot Hayotzer “a cultural gem”, this entire episode has been completely unreasonable, and it feels to him as if there are very strong economic forces trying to push the present artists out of the colony. Unfortunately, those are tactics that often succeed in this city.

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Hello Tel Aviv

February 15, 2010 - 11:42 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, General, Israeliness, Life, Medical Breakthroughs 

First it was Hello Jerusalem, now it’s Hello Tel Aviv. The Gap is opening its flagship Tel Aviv store next Sunday, February 21, in the city’s Azrieli Center.

Now the company’s trademark navy blue shopping bags will be swinging from shoppers’ arms in Tel Aviv, after they roam the aisles of the quintessentially American chain, checking out Long & Lean and Real Straight jeans and hoodies spread out over 650 square meters of inventory.

They’re planning a major media blitz, but I’m not too worried about whether Tel Aviv shoppers will check out their very own Gap. After all, Jerusalem’s Mamilla store is considered a huge success, given that Israel is a great example of a small market in which the Gap can achieve “enormous successes,” which is what Ron Young, the Gap’s senior vice president of international strategic alliances, told TheMarker last summer.

After Tel Aviv comes a Herzliya marina store in March, and then Eilat in June. According to the company’s website, Banana Republic stores will follow next year. And prior to that, Jerusalem has the first Israeli H&M store opening on March 11, another banner day for the capital city.

Just to fill you in a bit more, the Gap franchise in Israel is held by Elbit Trade and Retail. Elbit Trade also holds the rights in Israel to the Spanish chain Mango. And who is Elbit? They’re a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Imaging Ltd., which was known for its medical imaging devices until 1998, when it was acquired by Europe-Israel Ltd., a company known for its real estate business. Now Elbit focuses on shopping and entertainment malls and venture capital investments, as well as its image guided treatment products.

It’s an interesting mix, but clearly they’re doing something right.

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Hamshush time

December 3, 2009 - 3:32 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, General, Israeliness, Movies, Music 

hamshushalaim-header-engIf it’s the weekend of December 3-5, then it’s the second Hamshushalayim, which is one of those Hebrish idioms for Hamshush — that’s a combo of Hamishi, Thursday, and Shishi, Friday and Yerushalayim, Jerusalem. But what it really means in this context is three long weekends of various Jerusalem events, from plays and musical performances to bar specials and city tours.

It’s all part of Mayor Nir Barkat’s efforts to liven up the city of Jerusalem, and make it a happening place, rather than a place of ‘incidents’ and situations.

“We broke all records this past summer with festivals and events,” he says, whipping out the first statistic: the doubling of the local culture budget. “Journalists don’t always grasp that the public differentiates between a demonstration and a performance, even if they are just 300 or 500 meters apart. Beautiful things are happening in Jerusalem parallel to the demonstrations, even if they lend themselves less to media coverage,” he told Ha’aretz last weekend.

The events are definitely geared toward students, university students that is, in an effort to keep them in Jerusalem. But there’s lots of cultural stuff going on, so it’s worth checking out.

Here’s the PDF brochure in Hebrew, and a few events that I’ve selected that look worthwhile:
*The Psik Theater group will be performing for free on Alrov Mamilla Avenue at 9, 10 and 11 pm on Thursday night.
*All Cinematheque movies are just NIS 28 for all Hamshushalayim participants, throughout the weekend.
*Nighttime tours of City of David, between 9 pm and 12 am, NIS 10-NIS 20 per ticket.
*Craft fairs at the ICCY and on Bezalel Hakatan (in town), on Friday morning.

And if you can’t make it this weekend, there’s always next weekend.

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Luxe Jerusalem

November 29, 2009 - 11:50 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business 

The Waldorf Jerusalem under construction

The Waldorf Jerusalem under construction

The eternal Jerusalem real estate question: Is it better to have high-end property development like a Waldorf Astoria or Mamilla, or more low-key development? Would we rather have five-star luxe hotels and their attached residences (see this IHT article from Friday’s paper) with buyers who come three times a year, leaving empty buildings most of the time, or undeveloped city blocks? Is it free market practice to let the highest bidding developer do his or her thing with Jerusalem’s landmarked sites, or make the government and municipality pitch in to create affordable housing so that young Jerusalemites stay in the city rather than migrating to more affordable pastures.

I’m apt to think that we should be making Jerusalem more palatable and affordable for younger folk, rather than butler-hiring, $17,000 per square meter buyers…and we should refrain from encouraging developers to create projects in politically questionable neighborhoods that end up being bought by foreigners.

In my mind, $6 million residences are fine, as long as there’s plenty of other options for the rest of us.

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EVOO Israel style

November 8, 2009 - 2:40 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, coexistence, design, Food, General 

olive-harvest-_1-002It’s olive harvest time in these parts, which I was reminded of while passing [a possibly] public grove of olive trees on King David Street, in which several Arab women were picking and harvesting the crop.

Yes, charming and amusing and a reminder of the importance of olive oil, whether EVOO or other, in these parts. Now that Israel has beefed up on its boutique wineries, olive oil is the next cottage industry to hit the commercial mainstream, and enterprising olive oil producers are doing just that.

Here’s a nice little piece about four different olive farms…and if you can’t make it out to the farm — or the patch of olive trees on King David Street — just head over to liveO/Oil of Life in Mamilla or Tel Aviv, where their Negev Desert-sourced olive oil is packaged to perfection, whether as olive oil, straight; in soaps, jams (the Pear and Vanilla Jam is particularly good), or a myriad of other products.

According to the company, liveO produces five different lines of gourmet products based on their extra virgin olive oils, Picual, Souri, Barnea, Frantoio and Manzanillo. The oils are cold pressed, classified as extra virgin, and have a level of acidity not exceeding 0.5%. The gourmet line was created by Julian Attia, a French culinary advisor, inspired by the world of wines.

If you seek your own regular source of olive oil, LiveO will deliver a quantity of olive oil to your home monthly or quarterly, for a not insignificant sum. Or, you can cure olives yourself:

Olive-curing recipe:

Collect olives by hand in a clean plastic bucket to prevent bruising.
Day 1: Wash in running water. Add boiling hot water and allow to soak for 24 hours.
Day 2: Pour off cold water add more boiling water.
Day 3: Pour off cold water add more boiling water.
Day 4: Pour off cold water. Place the olives into clean jars and add a mixture of brine and white (or any other type) vinegar in the proportions of 3 to 1 by volume.

Brine = 10%w/v salt in water that is 100grams/litre of final solution

Fill jars well and add a layer of olive oil.

liveO: Mamilla Avenue, Jerusalem / 21 Rothschild Blvd., Tel Aviv

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