Youth City added a unique and innovative dimension to the entertainment culture of Israeli youth.

From the outset of its activity, it was established in the city, for urban young people, and deviated from the idealistic path of the pioneers – the generation of leaders who planned for Israeli youth a wonderful land with values of pioneering and fulfillment, "Sefer ve-Sayaf" (book and sword, referring to intellectual and military prowess), wisdom and knowledge.
In those years, the ideals of youth were concentrated in youth movements; their branches buzzed with activity during the week, and peaks were recorded in the movements' unique national events, with the participation of male and female trainees. Events like the "Shomria" of HaShomer HaTzair (The Young Guard), the "Gymbori" of the Scouts, the summer camps of HaNoar HaOved (The Working Youth) – in each such event, thousands of boys and girls participated, absorbing love for the land "through their feet." This happened during Sea to Sea hikes (Sea to Sea Hiking Trail), field activities, bonfires (Kumzitzes), in a collective experience that prepared them for a bright Zionist future.
But, with all due respect to the lofty ideals, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls voted with their feet and came to Youth City, to enjoy life. Without pangs of conscience and without thinking about Zionism and homeland. They momentarily put aside the books they were ordered to read, forgot about the activities in the youth movement branches, got on the bus, and came to an uninhibited happening. Alone, without parents, without teachers or instructors.

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The organizers of Youth City spared no effort to inform the youth, and their dear parents, that there were Hyde Parks and lectures and chess clubs, and they highlighted the valuable and challenging pavilions. Some skipped all of these and some did not, but ultimately, the highest visitor ratings at the Exhibition Grounds complex were recorded in places where the fun was pure, without added educational values. Especially in recent years, but not only. In 1966, actors and lecturers came for a "Theater Evening" and discovered to their surprise that the rows were sparse and the number of participants was small. They packed up and the evening was canceled, not without protests voiced in the press about "the insolence of the youth."

 

From the distance of years, it is difficult to know whether Youth City created a reality or followed in its footsteps, providing youth with what they truly wanted.

Either way, the Tel Aviv Municipality, which was the producer and the driving force behind the happening, can receive another line in the history of Israeli culture.