Tel Aviv: Day 3 - Beach

Time to rest.
This has been quite a vacation so far. Still, with all the traveling, walking, shooting, drawing, writing, etc... we've had little time to just relax. So, we decided to take a couple of hours off from being tourists and we went to the beach to lay down and do nothing. Jake tried to make progress on "War and Peace"...and I did a couple of drawings, then took a little nap. It was just what the doctor ordered!!!

Tel Aviv: Day 2 - Jaffa

The approach to Jaffa.
As we got closer to the old section, we noticed that there are many streets under complete renovation. You get the sense that this is a warn-torn country...however the rubble is simply an indication that the city is working to clean up years of neglect and disrepair. Street are torn up and buildings are being torn down and restored...and what looks like a mess of a neighborhood now will probably be a bustling part of Tel Aviv in the future.
The old town center.
Jaffa is what you would expect from a middle eastern city. Old walls built with limestone and intricate streets with steps leading to multiple levels and many covered archways. It is quite picturesque - as I hope will come across through my amaterurish photography. Yet, it does not seem to have much soul...or people. The buildings house a collection of galleries and boutiques, mostly empty of customers or visitors. As we started to walk away and looked back, we could not help but think that the little town is quite beautiful....yet, the people of Tel Aviv seem very enamoured with building something new and creating a new history for themselves and have little time for the stuff that came before them.

Tel Aviv: Day 2 - On the way to Jaffa

Our walk to old Jaffa.
Jaffa (or Yaffo) is the oldest part of Tel Aviv...and consists of the city that existed before present day Tel Aviv was built. After our felafel lunch with Yanek, we set out to visit this section of town. For those of you who have been reading this blog it will seem like a familiar story...yet another afternoon of walking and sightseeing, but to us, every street and every corner we turn is a feast for our eyes and our senses...and yet another opportunity to see something we have nit seen before.
As we started our walk I took a picture of the mutli-angled and colorful little structures that, Yanek explained, are the lottery kiosks. From there, Yanek went back to work and we were on our own.
Take a left at Penis Street.
We walked through a section of town that seemed older...the streets were narrower and the buildings - more classical in style - were set close to each other. The nighborhood has several quaint restaurants, cafes and boutiques. It is quite nice and we may end up there for dinner tonight. We stopped to ask for directions, and we were told to take a left at Pines Street...however, apparently "Pines" is pronounced "Penis"...so I had the older man whom I asked for directions repeat it several times. Sorry, couldn't help myself.
New and old.
From there, we kept walking and came across a less picturesque part of town dotted with fashion wholesalers, discounters and repair shops of all types - housed in run down buildings with little architectural interest. Immediately behind it, however rose a skyscraper that far surpassed some of the newer buildings I had seen so far in Tel Aviv - giving me a renewed sense of hope for the architectural future of this city. I've enclosed a picture of this building.

Tel Aviv: Day 2 - Graffiti, etc.

Stuff on walls.
I like to take pictures of all sorts of stuff. I especially like capturing the texture of the places that I visit including graffiti, advertising, signage, etc. Here, I am sharing some of what Jake and I encountered in our walk from Fontef Studio to Jaffa - the older section of Tel Aviv that used to exist as its own city before Tel Aviv was built (only 100 years ago). Let me know what yo think of my collection of visual ephemera.

Tel Aviv: Day 2 - Fontef Studio

A visit to Fontef Studio.
After getting up early, keeping up with the blog, going to the local gym for a quick work out, and having a bit of breakfast...we headed out to visit Yanek at Fontef, his studio - which is located on Rotschild Boulevard and Allenby, in a building built in the 1940's. Per Yanek's suggestion we grabbed a "shuttle taxi" - which is an interesting concept. These small buses roam the streets on a specific route...and can be flagged down at any time...and for less than $2 per person they will stop at any point during the route and drop off and pick up. Basically, they are more convenient than buses and less expensive than taxis. A great idea that I am surprised has not been adopted by other cities.
Type talk.
Fontef consists of a spacious room that Yanek shares with Lahav Halevy...another talented designer with whom he occasionally collaborates. We spent a bit of time talking shop - much to the chagrin of poor Jake who perused a copy of the Jerusalem Bible, whle Yanek and I chatted about people we know - like Neville Brody, Eric Spiekerman and Tibor Kalman...and our love for fonts and design. It's nice to talk with someone who is not only passionate about their craft, but also very good at it. Yanek also shared some of his work...including a set of guidelines and identity extensions he created for Russian Standard (a vodka from Russia); and he showed us how he runs his typeface business online.
Yanek's smile.
Yanek is a very gentle person with an impish and infectious grin. His entire face lights up when he smiles...from his eyes to his dimples. Apparently his smile is now famous, as he was chosen for an ad that is running in the Tel Aviv newspaper. He showed it to us, and I took a snapshot of it...I get the feeling that there is a second career in the works here! :) Yanek smiles when he talks about type and design...and when he talks about Tel Aviv...a city that he loves and that he's very proud of. He likes to point out buildings and tell us stories about how they came to be, what makes them special, and how the fit in the short history of this city. And so, he took us up to his roof and pointed at stuff and told us about it.
Jake likes to eat.
All in all, it was a very fun way to spend an hour...(probably more for me than for Jake). However, we followed our chat with a nice lunch consisting of felafels we picked up at a local street joint and ate at on of the benches that sit under the shade of the trees that line Rotschild Boulevard...and at that point it was obvious that Jake was happy again. In all honesty, I had not realized how much Jake loves to eat. When he's off to Berkeley I will have to make it a point to take him and some of his friends out to dinner as often as I can.

Tel Aviv: Day 1 - Dinner with Yanek.

Meeting up with Yanek Iontef.
One of the highlights of our trip has been to meet up with Yanek Iontef. Yanek is a very talented designer living in Tel Aviv, with whom I've had the pleasure to work with on a recent assignment for a client in Japan. He was introduced to me by Dan Pulcrano, the publisher of Metro Magazine and founder of Boulevards.com, who has a keen eye for great typography...and who had hired Yanek to design covers for Metro Magazine. In fact, I think that Yanek is one of the most gifted type designers I've ever known. If you're interested check out his site:
www.fontef.com
I had not met Yanek in person, so I was excited to see what he looked like. As it turns out, he's like a slightly bulkier and younger version of me...including a pair of great glasses and a totally bald head. :)
Mr. Iontef is a very pleasant, polite and generous person...and he took us out for a delicious and extravagant dinner at a restaurant called Brasserie M&R, in the heart of Tel Aviv. He shared his background which included moving to Israel from Moldova...studying art and design...and inheriting his love for cooking from his mom.

He told us not to worry about anything while we're here, as we are "his responsibility"...and I think he's serious about it! He's even going to take us for a visit to Jerusalem, where he has offered to be our guide and show us the sights, and tell us about their relevance...which Jake and I are super excited about.

At the restaurant we ran into the fellow with whom he shares a studio...who also happens to be the designer who was responsible for the identity of Brasserie M&R...and another friend of theirs. I decided this was a photo opp...as here we were, four guys with a love for design and not a hair on our heads! Jake took the picture! What do you think...can you spot the real Alfredo?

Tel Aviv: Day 1 - More Beachfront

The beach looks inviting.
Jake and I did enjoy the walk...and you can see that the Israeli people and the tourists that flock to this city enjoy the beach. By the time we got to the beach, the shift - from "hanging out by the water" to "hanging out by the bar was just starting"....but it seemed poise to become a place where young people would enjoy a few drinks and showing off the tans they had worked hard to create during the day. We took a little break at one of the cafes on the sand...where I enjoyed a cold beer and a bit of a rest for my weary feet. Everyone here speaks English...but you can also hear multiple other languages being spoken. I am determined to take an afternoon off from all the sightseeing and simply lay down by the water and take a nice little nap...this is a "vacation" after all!!!