Where are we actually? In the 1930s in the CAFE ATARA in Jerusalem! The CAFE ATARA was located from 1938 to 1996, first for two years on Jaffo Road, then at 7 Ben Yehuda Street , and was a European-style coffee house. Artists and journalists were welcome guests.
European Café in the Heart of Jerusalem
CAFE ATARA was located in the middle of the "Downtown Triangle", the business and entertainment district in the heart of the city. Especially between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s, the district was the commercial and cultural center of Jerusalem. There were many shops and upscale restaurants run by German-Jewish owners. During the district's heyday, there were also 14 cinemas showing the latest Hollywood blockbusters. It was popular to go to the cinema first and then visit one of the coffee houses or restaurants in the area.
CAFE ATARA was founded by Bernhard Grünspan, who came to Jerusalem in 1938. Before that, he owned a men's clothing store in Munich. He ran CAFE ATARA with his son Heinz. His son Uri later took over the café. The word ATARA means "crown" in Hebrew, by the way. We are therefore in the crown of Jerusalem.
There were several other German-Jewish style coffeehouses in Jerusalem at the time, where the food, coffee and ambience were reminiscent of the cities and lives that the exiles had to leave behind. But CAFE ATARA was something very special for many new arrivals in Jerusalem.
The district of Rechavia
CAFE ATARA is also inextricably linked to the Rechavia district , also not far from the city center. Since its construction in 1922, many diplomats, intellectuals and artists have settled here. To this day, Rechavia is a very wealthy district and the Prime Minister's residence is also located here.
In the 1930s, Rechavia was a very German-Jewish district and was closely connected to the German-Jewish educated middle class. Many exiles settled here and the architectural signature of German architects and urban planners was hard to miss. Eric Mendelsohn, among others, built several houses here that are visually reminiscent of houses in the Grundewald in Berlin. The Schocken Library of the well-known publisher Salman Schocken is still located in Rechavia today. This building was also designed by Mendelsohn. Else Lasker-Schüler and Gershom Scholem also lived in Rechavia for a time. Both often spent time in the CAFE ATARA and you can meet both of them soon in the CAFE ATARA!
Comments