Florentin, Tel Aviv
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.
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[edit] History
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 led to pogroms 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]That year, the Jaffa Municipality approved a plan to develop light industry and trade in the neighborhood. Small factories and workshops were 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.[1]
[edit] Modern era
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.[2][3]
Florentin property prices increased from 2001 to 2010 by 65% according to Maariv (May 17, 2010). This is in contrast to 45% for the rest of Tel Aviv. The population there in the same period 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.
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]
[edit] Notable residents
- Nissim Aloni (1926–98), playwright and translator
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Florentin – from Salonika to Soho, Joanna Paraszczuk". The Jerusalem Post. January 14, 2010. http://www.jpost.com/RealEstate/Article.aspx?id=166212. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
- ^ The Florentin Quarter: A Tel Aviv neighborhood not to be missed!
- ^ Tel Aviv chic
Coordinates: 32°3′27.33″N 34°46′17.61″E / 32.0575917°N 34.7715583°E
