The developing nightlife scene in Rehavia
is helping to forge a sense of community
that may be replicated in other neighborhoods.
By ORRI J. AVRAHAMClinking glasses at chef Assaf Granit’s ‘Wine Bar.’(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Jerusalem’s booming and blooming nightlife has been the subject of much media attention in recent months – and with good reason. The Mahaneh Yehuda market and the city center have both seen a considerable spike in the number of bars and restaurants open after dusk, and continue to attract droves of avid clientele from all corners of the city virtually every night of the week.In stark contrast to these areas, meanwhile, the nightlife scene around Azza Road has somehow maintained a local character and, some would say, even an underground feel to it. Not so much the destination of Jerusalemites at large on their night out, the strip of venues lining up from the Prime Minister’s Residence near Paris Square all the way down to Berlin Street, bustle mostly with the younger crowd that lives within the immediate periphery of Azza Road.Very few tourists will be seen here, or rowdy teenagers looking for a puff of nargila; rather, two Bezalel students may be spotted at the end of a demanding day hunched over a pint of beer in the corner of their favorite bar right across from their apartment. A dilettante programmer will often be sighted with an espresso and an open laptop in his usual spot of Café Yehoshua, coding the evening away with dreams of an “exit.” Across the street in the well-known Azza 40 restaurant, a crowd of Hebrew University graduate students will fill the room with political chatter after a third round of drinks.Even so, the general boom in Jerusalem’s nightlife has certainly not skipped over Azza Road by any means. The past few months have brought a handful of new players to the local scene that cater, in accordance with the neighborhood’s unique temperament, to the many hundreds of students living nearby. Far from endangering the genteel subculture that has developed around Azza Road, these new venues have injected much-needed new blood to this small biosphere and are helping to make it livelier than before.The Corky wine bar – which opened a short two months ago, right by the corner of Azza and Arlosoroff Street – has already generated a lot of talk. Managing partners Eyal Bouchsboim and Evyatar Cohen, both having worked in the wine industry for years before coming to Azza Road, were captivated by the idea of opening a wine bar that would render the world of boutique Israeli wines approachable – and affordable – to the general public. Not content with simply serving their customers an arbitrary glass of red or white, however, the two wine aficionados will gladly tell the story behind each bottle in their bar, perhaps in the hopes of imparting visitors with an inkling of their own enthusiasm.Their kosher menu offers a rich selection of wine-tasting deals representing a wide variety of wineries from all over the country, renewed on a monthly basis to expose their long-term clientele with the full pantheon of Israeli viticulture. Far from attracting only the narrow niche of older and more cultured Jerusalemites, though, Corky has pulled in students from around Rehavia in wholly unanticipated numbers.“We never expected to create such a buzz among the younger crowd,” says Bouchsboim.“But since our opening, they’ve actually made up the bulk of our business. We already have a surprising number of familiar faces from around the neighborhood who come here once or twice a week.”Meanwhile, renowned chef Assaf Granit, owner of the highly acclaimed MachneYuda restaurant near the shuk, staked a claim to Azza Road this past summer – just down the street from Corky – with his own wine bar, now affectionately referred to by locals simply as “the Wine Bar.” In evening hours, the outdoor space in front of the next-door beauty parlor is combined with that of the “Wine Bar,” creating a charming garden. Granit’s choice to set up shop on Azza Road was no accident, prompted mainly by his wish to open a small, intimate bar specifically tailored to the palates and wallets of younger folk.“I enjoy seeing students living across the street coming down in their slippers to grab a glass of wine in the early evening,” reveals Granit. “This has been a dream of mine for a long time coming, and Rehavia was the natural location to realize it.”The characteristic vibe that distinguishes Azza Road from other culinary hubs of Jerusalem comes hand-in-hand with the fact that many of its bars and restaurants open on Shabbat, in tune with the growing demand of the neighborhood and of secular Jerusalemites at large. To a visitor from Tel Aviv, the six venues that open on Friday night and Saturday morning may seem like a scant selection, to be sure, but by local standards they are nothing to snicker at.Curiously, this was not always the case. As late as 2014, when the old RestoBar was replaced with kosher Café de Paris at the higher end of Azza Road, and after a lawsuit against Café Yehoshua by religious residents compelled it to close on Shabbat, the street was left without a single bar or restaurant open on the weekend for a long stretch of time before the tide began to turn again in late 2015. The more veteran of Rehavia’s inhabitants will certainly recall the hype over the decision by the previously kosher Azza 40 restaurant more than a year and a half ago to start opening on Shabbat, and the stream of enthusiastic diners that made it a point to frequent the place as a show of support.Of the several new joints that have popped up along Azza Road in the months since – Assaf Granit’s “Wine Bar” chief among them – half have followed in Azza 40’s footsteps and opted to open for business over the weekend.This past year has been eventful for residents of Rehavia, and the overarching trend that has characterized it is unmistakable to anyone who frequents the neighborhood on a regular basis. Rehavia in 2017 is humming with happy chatter on an ordinary weeknight and even more so on a Friday night. At its epicenter, Azza Road bustles after sunset with more hungry and thirsty customers than ever before and with more bars and restaurants to host them. Added to Corky and “The Wine Bar” are two small bars – Harosh and The Wino – that in a way have become the unofficial meeting places of Rehavians.Resident Yaniv Friedman, student of physics and psychology at the Hebrew University, has lived on the street for more than three years – long enough to bear witness to the ups and downs of his neighborhood’s burgeoning nightlife. What strikes Friedman in particular is “a growing sense of community that is forming around the pub culture in Rehavia. The atmosphere is entirely casual. Everyone knows everyone and those who don’t, feel totally comfortable to just start chatting.”A bartender at one of the new bars that Friedman frequents echoes a similar impression, perhaps underlying a deeper trend.“The bars lining up on Azza Road are now creating for the first time the sort of mingling culture that British pubs are known for,” he points out. “People come here in the late afternoon for a drink to connect with their neighbors. More and more, the neighborhood bar is becoming the neighborhood playground.“As a bartender, I’ve become something of a matchmaker,” he adds enthusiastically. “I’ve gotten to know many of our regular customers intimately, so when someone tells me he is looking for an animator to make a promotional video, or for fellow soccer junkies to organize a neighborhood tournament, I’m often able to name the perfect guy or girl, sometimes even living in the very same building.”It appears bars may very well be the trigger for a stronger community in Rehavia, quite simply by pulling people out from their apartments, even “in their slippers,” to socialize outside their immediate circles and form the sort of bonds that were once commonplace among neighbors. More importantly still, Rehavia might very well become a model for other neighborhoods around Jerusalem to step up their nightlife as a platform to strengthen community life.The nightlife scene on Azza Road has regained its vitality and perhaps rekindled a local culture that is distinctively Rehavian. Wine bars in particular, not only in Rehavia but around Jerusalem, have been popping up in recent months and form yet another interesting trend to look out for in the capital.The curious reader is encouraged to keep a close eye on King David Street, where the folks behind the kosher 1868 restaurant and adjoining Zuta cocktail bar are said to be opening a reasonably priced wine bar sometime soon, joining the Red and White Wine Bar further down on Shlomo Hamelech Street.