Simtat Plonit

Simtat Plonit Review

It's worth a wander down this alley to see old Tel Aviv decorative architecture at its best. Two gray-plastered obelisks at the entrance to the alley mark the city's first "gated" community. Note the stucco lion in front of Number 7, which used to have glowing eyes fitted with lightbulbs. The original apartment house is painted pale yellow with a garish orange trim. The tract of land that incorporates Simtat Plonit was bought in the 1920s by an outspoken builder from Detroit named Meir Getzel Shapira. (He established what is still known as the Shapira Quarter, just south of the Central Bus Station and now one of the city's seedier neighborhoods.) After buying the land, Shapira insisted that this pint-size street be named after him, and, as the story goes, he fought furiously with Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, to get his way. (Dizengoff had already planned to name another street Shapira, after a different Shapira.) The mayor emerged victorious and named the alley Plonit, meaning "What's-His-Name."