Florentin, Tel Aviv

A street cafe in Florentin

Florentin (Hebrew: פלורנטין‎‎) is a neighborhood in the southern part of Tel Aviv, Israel, named for David Florentin, a Greek Jew who purchased the land in the late 1920s. Development of the area was spurred by its proximity to the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. As with much of Southern Tel Aviv, for many decades the area suffered from urban decay and poverty. However, today most of the residents are young and the neighborhood is often associated with a bohemian life style. Florentin is now becoming known as a hip, "cool" place to be in Tel Aviv with coffeehouses, markets, bars, galleries and parties.

History

Historic synagogue in Florentin

The land was purchased in the 1920s by the Salonika-Palestine Investment Company, founded in 1921 by Jews in Salonika to develop commercial relations with Jewish settlements in Palestine. After World War I, anti-Semitism in Greece reared its head, compounding the effects of the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 in which the city's Jewish quarter was destroyed, leaving over 53,000 Jews homeless. In 1924, the Salonika-Palestine Company sent an envoy to Palestine to purchase land in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv's Rehov Herzl, in an area bordering Neveh Tzedek and Ahuzat Bayit that was close to the Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad. Due to Ottoman land laws, building in the area was held up until 1933.^[1]

Florentin was the setting for a popular TV series in the late 1990s called Florentin. The area's hip/trendy atmosphere has led to comparisons with SoHo and the Lower East Side in New York City.^[1]

Indeed, street artists, such as Dede ^[2] and Klone^[3] installation artists such as Sigalit Landau, and many others made the upbeat neighborhood their home base.^[4][5] Florentin is now known as a hip, "cool" place to be in Tel Aviv with coffeehouses, markets, bars, galleries and parties.^[6]

Economy

In 1933, the Jaffa Municipality allowed shops and light industries to be opened on the ground floors of the new residential buildings, providing a source of income for the wave of immigrants settling in Palestine at the time.Today it is a combination of industrial zone, garment district, marketplace and assembly point for foreign workers looking for jobs.^[1]A gentrification campaign sponsored by the Tel Aviv municipality in the 1990s led to a revival of the area, which has become a trendy night spot.^[7][8]

Demography

From 2001 to 2010, Florentin property prices increased by 65%, compared to 45% for the rest of Tel Aviv. The population nearly doubled from 3900 people to 7000 people, of which today 21% are between the 35–44 age range, 33.7% are between the ages of 25-34 and children till the age of 17 are 7% of the population.

Notable residents

• Nissim Aloni (1926–98), playwright and translator

See also

• Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv

References

1. "Florentin – from Salonika to Soho, Joanna Paraszczuk". The Jerusalem Post. January 14, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
2. Aharoni, Inbal (8/11/11). "The luck of the draw". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 8/11/13. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
3. Stouffer, Hannah (23/12/13). "Alfred Gallery". Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Boulos, Nick (5/10/13). "Show and Tel Aviv: Israel's artistic coastal city". The Independent. Retrieved 1/4/14. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
5. Forester, Fischler, Shmueli, John, Raphael, Deborah (2001). Israeli Planners and Designers: Profiles of Community Builders. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 33–41.
6. Mayer, Joel (4/12/11). "Tel Aviv Chic; Exploring Graffiti in Florentine". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3/12/11. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
7. The Florentin Quarter: A Tel Aviv neighborhood not to be missed!
8. Tel Aviv chic

Coordinates: 32°3′27.33″N 34°46′17.61″E / 32.0575917°N 34.7715583°E