Emek Refaim Street in the German Colony (near Baka) took on new life at night, as performance artists lined the streets this past week.
I think everyone knows this ragtime band.
Modern dance..jpg)
Music..jpg)
Probably the youngest performers on the street..jpg)
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SL
Sponsored by The Second International Jewish Bloggers Convention
As I’m driving down Emek Refaim Street, I was trying to figure out, when (and why) did they put up a guardhouse to the entrance of that particular courtyard.
And what a strange guardhouse it was. There was no gate to block the way - people could walk right through it. And people were hanging out all around the guardhouse, even sitting on chairs someone had conveniently placed there.
I looked again, and realized that the “guardhouse” was actually a café that they built right in the middle of the entrance. Definitely different. I’m gonna have to check it out.
SL
Sponsored by Colony Real Estate Professionals
Emek Refaim is the SoHo of Jerusalem. Restaurants, cafes, and artsy stores intermingling all along this super-busy main street of the German Colony. But this week it is impossible to see any restaurants or cafes as their sukkas took over all the sidewalks in front.
The German Colony is an interesting place to explore because of its variety – even on a single block.
Driving past the stores and cafes on Emek Rafaim, turn into Yonatan Street and you’ll suddenly find yourself on Yehoshua bin-Nin (aka Joshua, successor of Moshe) St. which runs parallel to Emek Refaim starting at Rachel Imeinu (dead-end on that side) to Elazar HaModai on the other.
We’ll discuss the history of the Elazar HaModai another time. In the meantime, just know that he was the uncle of Bar Kochva and helped prevent the fall of Beitar (until it finally did fall).
The pricing on homes and apartments on this street can range from $4000/meter to $8000/meter.
The construction style ranges from standard Israeli apartments, to century old Templar built homes hidden behind walls surrounding private gardens (and don’t forget the Templar graveyard on the other side of Emek Refaim).
The interiors of these homes is unique and airy, and definitely worth seeing first hand.
Of course, this street is also the home to the famous Netzach Yisrael Synagogue.
SL
We were eating in one of the many restaurants on Emek Refaim in the German Colony the other day. With us were relatives from overseas who hadn’t been in Israel in decades.
“Emek Refaim has turned into a little SoHo,” one relative exclaimed.
When she was here 20 years ago, almost none of this existed. Not the cafes, the restaurants, the boutiques and jewelry stores. It was more of a ghost street (to mistranslate the name – that story another time).
I think what most excited my relative were the jewelry stores.
One of her NYC suburbia neighbors travels to Israel nearly every month, buying up the unique jewelry on Emek Refaim.
She then resells in her NYC store for a nice profit. Sure she makes a pretty penny, but more so, it shows there is a big demand for the custom, beautiful jewelry you can only find on Emek Refaim in the Streets of Jerusalem.
SL
Sponsored by Colony Real Estate Professionals
