It's Fun To Stay At The...

It's Tuesday!  Time to continue my tour of Jerusalem, folks.

Mamilla: A Brief History

This area was once a no-man's land.  Now, it is home to hotels, a modern pedestrian mall, and a great artist village.  Mamilla is also home to the HUC!  Let's examine this amazing area.

Located just outside and to the west of the Old City, this neighborhood has had a very difficult history.  Despite it's proximity to the Old City, it was not one of the first established communities outside the famous Old City wall.  However, the area saw growth during the time of the British Mandate 1923-1948.  There are only a few remnants of the time: the French compound, the King David Hotel, and the Hospice of St Vincent de Paul. 

Entrance to the King David Hotel.

The Jerusalem International YMCA (pronounced eemka) began construction in the late 1920s.

Gorgeous view of the back of Hospice of St Vincent de Paul.

The French Compound with the consulate.  This is stunning in person.

Come 1948, Jerusalem was split in half, and Mamilla found itself right on the line on the side of Israel.  With it's proximity to the armistice line, Jordanian snipers could easily target anyone passing through this area.  As a result, many moved out from this region.  Only the poor and elderly lived there.  Many buildings and houses fell into terrible states of disrepair.  This is the period during which the HUC got its land.

After the war of 1967, Jerusalem unified, and Mamilla found itself right in the middle of great changes.  With Jewish tourism into the Old City increasing at exponential rates, there was need to change Mamilla into a destination outside the city.  Under the direction of architect Moshe Safdie, many dilapidated buildings were torn down, with exception of the hospice, and new ones were built.  Roads were enlargened to compensate for the increased traffic flow.  Even the great King David Hotel received an amazing upgrade.  Naturally, there have been money flow issues, especially in the last decade or two.  With the Intifada reducing some of the tourism, there were fewer funds for a swank mall.  However, a few years ago, this great project was finally completed.  Now, all they need to do is complete the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel across the street.

Entrance to the Artist's Colony, a result of the rebirth of Mamilla.



 Amazing view of the main artery of the artist's colony.

The Annual Summer Artist Festival is going on, and I will be attending sometime next week.  Look out for a post!

Entrance to the Mamilla Mall!

Indulge me for a moment.  Inside the Mamilla Mall are many great shops: a Naot store, the North Face, Fox, Renuar, Steimansky's, and the first Gap store in Israel.

I decided this fitting since they have been working on this for a long time.

An interesting little site I found across the street from the Mamilla Mall is:

Yeah, that's right.  Look at the graffiti on the marker in the second picture.  The Hebrew next to "Plaza" says "Really?" just like what it says next to "Mr. George W. Bush."  President Bush was a big supporter of Israel, that cannot be denied, but what this really shows is that anyone with money can name anything for anyone.  Maybe one day there will be a Cat Park or something in Israel named for me.

All you need to hear are the words, "It's fun to stay at the..." and you know it's "YMCA" by the Village People.  I'm sure many of you did the hand motions as soon as you read the lyric.  You are not alone :)