Graffiti in Florentin, Tel Aviv – Self Tour
Tel Aviv Graffiti tours, especially in Florentin, have become very popular recently. And in this article, you can find everything you need.
Table of Contents
Graffiti Tours
At least a dozen firms, including Tel Aviv municipality, offer graffiti tours. Moreover, some firms self-tour with their app. And I considered joining a regular tour for a while. But since traveling with kids can contain uncertainties, I decided to make a pilot family tour.
But when I started researching the subject, I found a lack of information. Many places mention the Florentin neighborhood, but there are no street names or suggested routes.
After checking about twenty sites and reviewing several hundred photos, I devised half a dozen street names and created a loop route.
Map
Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit
Interactive map of the area:
Offers:
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I deliberately included signs with street names in many photos in this post. Moreover, I will write the street names we walked on (marked in bold) and nearby streets you should consider visiting. And here is an interactive map from israelhiking.osm.org.il where the trail that we did is marked:
The length of the marked trail is 3.1 km, but you can easily make it shorter or longer.
Note: the city that never sleeps is constantly renovating. Thus, if you see two streets, one with new skyscrapers and another with old buildings, you will find graffiti on the old buildings.
Florentin
You can find street art in many areas of Tel Aviv, but the Florentin neighborhood has the highest density of graffiti.
Florentin is a neighborhood in the southern part of Tel Aviv, Israel, named for David Florentin, a Greek Jew who purchased the land in the late 1920s. Development of the area was spurred by its proximity to the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway.
Predominantly a low-income Mizrahi Jewish neighborhood, Florentin was initially populated primarily by poor Jewish immigrants from North Africa, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and Bukhara. As with much of Southern Tel Aviv, for many decades the area has suffered from urban decay and poverty. However, today it also attracts many younger residents and artists, and the neighborhood is also associated with a bohemian lifestyle. Florentin now has numerous artists’ workshops, cafes, restaurants, markets, and graffiti tours.
The area is known for its vibrant local art scene. With the arrival of a bohemian community and the opening of many workshops in the 1990s, the mix of garages and abandoned buildings in the area attracted many artists who used the areas’ crumbling walls as a canvas for large works.
Street art in Florentin often has a strong political message. Local political conflicts between rival political groups have also taken place through graffiti battles on the walls of the neighborhood.
Source: Wikipedia
Best Time For a Graffiti Tour
The short answer is the weekend. We did the Tel Aviv Graffiti walk on Saturday evening since it is both a day off, and it is not as hot in the evenings.
Saturday or Friday evening is the best time for graffiti-watching. That is because much graffiti is painted near or on top of the doors of small businesses. Moreover, some of those streets are very narrow, and visiting them with additional traffic would be inconvenient. Thus, those businesses should be closed to see them, which means visiting on weekends (not including Friday mornings).
Alternatively, you can visit in the evening, when the workshops are closed.
Parking
If you visit in the middle of the week, you can reach Florentin by public transport. But, if you will be visiting during the recommended time mentioned above, then public transportation is not an option (at least not in both directions). If you stay or leave nearby, then you can walk or cycle. And if you are located further away, you will most likely need a taxi or a parking place.
As you can see from the map above, the Florentin neighborhood is near Old Jaffa and Neve Tzedek. Thus, the paid parking lot of the First Station is nearby. You can also park at Jaffa Port and combine graffiti with a stroll through Jaffa (for additional parking details, see Old Jaffa).
We parked near Gesher theater and started our visit at Eilat street.
The American Colony
Since we were already in the area, we decided to detour and visit the American – German Colony.
Here is the facade of a recently restored building, The Drisco Hotel at Auerbach Street:
A small square in front of Immanuel Church with an authentic carriage:
You can find the full post at American – German Colony.
Types of Graffiti
After the short detour to The American Colony, we returned to HaRabi MiBachrach Street and headed towards Florentin.
According to graffitocanberra.wordpress.com, there are eight common graffiti styles. Here is a piece.
A piece is a picture that has been painted free hand. They contain at least three colors and take longer to paint. A piece in an obvious place will gain the artist respect from other artists because standing in an obvious place painting on walls where graffiti is illegal is a great risk.
Source of all graffiti types quotes: graffitocanberra.wordpress.com
This area has a mix of new homes and old buildings. Graffiti can be found on old houses.
And here is Heaven.
A heaven is a tag or artwork in a place that is extremely difficult to get to. An artist who manages to put one up gains a lot of respect from other artists.
I read that artists do not climb the building when art is close to the roof. They are doing the opposite, getting access to the roof and using ropes to slide down and paint.
From HaRabi MiBachrach Street, we turned to HaMehoga Street.
Here is an example of a stencil.
A stencil is an easy way to put up detailed pieces. By spraying over a stencil, you can produce a more detailed piece than by doing it free hand. And it is also repeatable.
We took the right turn to HaNagarim Street. You can choose one of the narrow streets (Tsrifin, HaMasor, Khatserim) towards Abarbanel Street. And if you have time, you can visit all of them.
I took this photo at the corner of HaMasor and HaNagarim Streets.
As you can see, Tsrifin Street is narrow. And since 24 mm was not wide enough, I had to take some photos at an angle. Moreover, there are many small workshops on these streets. That is why I recommend visiting on weekends.
Since Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, her stencil has appeared in many places in Tel Aviv.
Heichal Menachem synagogue at Abarbanel Street with Rainbow flags:
We took Abarbanel street towards Florentin road and then continued along Florentin Street.
We saw not only drawn art but several knitted pieces as well.
The knitted parrot is a type of sticker.
A sticker is like a downsized poster, and just as easy to execute. Many stickers are simply tags on postage labels, but sometimes they are more elaborate.
27 Club Graffiti
At the corners of Haim Ben-Atar and Florentin Streets, you can find 27 Club Graffiti. It appears in the center of the building (a little higher than the lamppost). It depicts (from left to right) Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and an unknown figure, “believed to be the artist, Jonathan Kis-Lev.”
The 27 Club graffiti is a mural that was painted by the Israeli graffiti crew, Kis-Lev, on the side wall of a large building in Tel Aviv, Israel in September 2014. The artwork is 3 m high by 7 m wide, and depicts seven artists from the “27 Club”, a list of popular musicians, artists, or actors who died at the age of 27.
Kis-Lev first came up with the idea to depict the seven figures when he was 26 years old. “I was about to turn 27 and, having read much about the 27 club. I was afraid I was to join them somehow. Some of my friends teased me that I would, being an artist and all… I promised myself that I would do a mural to commemorate these giants including my face in faded colors, and once I turn 28 to cover my face.”
Source: Wikipedia
Jonathan turned 28, and the face at the right was covered.
Some artists took a step further and glued items on the painting. Here, for example, an earring was added.
Yitzhak Rabin’s Murder
At the corner of Washington Avenue and Florentin, you can find the Rabin mural on the electricity infrastructure building by Yigal Shtayim.
“It was right after the Rabin assassination, and I thought that there was a lack of graffiti about the violence in Israeli society,” said Shtayim. “I didn’t want to do something typical with [Rabin’s] face, but more about the trauma. It’s like a map of social violence.”
The mural depicts the moment of Rabin’s murder when Yigal Amir shot Rabin from close range. Shtayim painted it as if seen through the security camera footage of the event, in black and white and a bit fuzzy.
Source: timesofisrael.com
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned uncertainties when traveling with kids, and at this point, my daughter started to lose patience. And since we covered many places we wanted to see, we turned to Avraham Stern Street and began to make our way back.
Classical vs. Modern sticker:
Some graffiti evokes strong feelings.
Then, via HaRav Yizkhak Yedidya Frenkel, we returned to Abarbanel Street.
On Abarbanel Street, you can find many small cafes, restaurants, and graffiti.
Neve Tzedek
We followed Abarbanel to Eilat Street and entered the Neve Tzedek neighborhood near Neve Tzedek Tower.
If you want more information about this neighborhood, check out Neve Tzedek.
Probably one of the most noticeable houses in Neve Tzedek. It is decorated with several dozens of doll figures.
Neve Tzedek is a posh neighborhood, but even there, you can find graffiti. Here is an example from Shabazi Street.
Our final stop was HaTachana Compound – Old Train Station. On most of our visits to this area, we pass through the Old Train Station since it has one of the most important things for visitors. If you thought about restrooms, then you are right. 🙂
Summary
This Tel Aviv Graffiti walk took us almost three hours. But it could be easily shortened, as you can skip Neve Tzedek or American Colony. And on the opposite side, you could easily make it a full-day visit by including nearby neighborhoods and Jaffa.
Overall, I was impressed. I did not expect to see so many graffiti masterpieces and street art. Thus, I recommend paying a visit if you have the time. And if you want to receive explanations during your walk, join one of the tours.
Have you ever scouted for Graffiti in Tel Aviv? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!
Stay Tuned!
For additional points of interest nearby, see Tel Aviv-Yafo.
Additional Resources
Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:- Trip Planner with Attractions and Itineraries is the page that will help you create your perfect travel route.
- What is the Best Time to visit Israel? To answer this question, we will consider the weather, prices, holidays, festivals, and more.
- Information and Tips for Tourists to Israel will answer the most common questions tourists have about Israel (including safety, passports, weather, currency, tipping, electricity, and much more).
- Israel National Parks and Nature Reserves include a complete list, top ten, map, tickets (Israel Pass, Matmon, combo), and campsites.
- If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, Akko (Acre), Eilat, Nazareth, Safed (Tzfat), and Makhtesh Ramon.
what about beit marmaros in Floretine
Hi,
Beit Marmaros is located at HaRav Yizkhak Yedidya Frenkel 80, Tel Aviv-Yafo. During that trip, we did not reach that far. Are there graffiti nearby?