The bar changes with the times, but it may take some getting used to.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFhaoman bar 298.88(photo credit: Orit Arfa)
Even the exterior of this former mega-nightclub turned mega-bar was different. In place of a black wall was a silvery metal facade. The line was still long and the selectors still a bit snobby. After all, it was opening night of Haoman 17 in its new form - a moment many Jerusalem partyers had been waiting for.
As a former Haoman junkie, I felt very odd entering the bar and not immediately seeing tons of people getting down on the dance floor to the heart-pounding kick drums of house and techno. Instead, I saw a huge jagged polygonal bar lit by chandeliers that looked like wedding cakes, with nicely dressed Jerusalemites downing beers and chasers at its dark wooden counters.
I looked up to where the DJ booth once stood, only to see sophisticated lounge chairs, which also filled the former stage across from it. A new DJ booth had been constructed on the site of a former bar at the far end of the club, and the DJ was spinning jazzy house and chill-out music.
Yes, the bar was beautiful, rivaling the best mega-bars in Tel Aviv, such as the hot spot Whiskey A Go-Go, also built on the ruins of a former mega-club, TLV, as a result of the nightclub era's decline.
Haoman owner Hillel Farkash said it best that night: "It's strange, but sababa [all right]. It's what the people want."
Well, some people. Give me Haoman in its former glory.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
