What Was There
In The Youth City?
The format of Youth City barely changed throughout the event's 22 years of existence.
For two or three weeks, sometimes even a month or more – a continuous mass happening unfolded in the "city that never stopped."
Tens of thousands of young people who entered the Exhibition Grounds complex every evening went to the pavilions dealing with various topics. Famous artists performed for their fan base, and emerging artists won the "Young Talents Competition."
Sports competitions brought achievements, victories, and trophies. In between, visitors passed through the eating corner located along the way. Smoke and enticing smells emanated from it, where stall owners waited, providing cotton candy, hot corn, bagels, and hot dogs in buns.
And of course, there was the eternal Luna Park (amusement park) that offered traditional amusements. The amusement rides hardly aged and suited young people of all ages throughout the periods – a Ferris wheel, go-karts, target shooting games, a spooky ghost train, the Wall of Death and motorcyclists who defied gravity, and best of all - the cable car with its cabins hovering from one end of the complex to the other, and inside the cabin, boys and girls huddled together, admiring the views from above: tiny people below, twinkling lights in the distance, pavilion roofs, and silence and quiet until the cabin landed with a thud at the end of the track.
Teenagers arrived in groups or alone.
Without parents. This was part of the great fun.
Music played on loudspeakers scattered everywhere, hundreds of colorful lights were strung among the trees planted throughout the complex, creating a festive atmosphere for the thousands of young people who wanted to see everything. They strolled until they got tired and rested on one of the well-maintained grassy areas.
It wasn't easy to get through the entire evening unscathed. The place was packed with attractions and an endless collection of experiences, and everything they saw and heard overwhelmed their senses and brought visitors to the end of their journey, at the exit gates, exhausted, making their way on foot to the bus that took them home. The buses were part of the meticulous planning – the Dan company operated special lines, 47, 90, and 91, which departed from the Central Bus Station and passed through central points in the city to pick up the revelers.
The train also increased its services for the benefit of revelers arriving from Haifa, Jerusalem, and the South.
Youth City rested on three pillars: the pavilions, sports, and entertainment.
The Pavilions
The pavilions were the main cornerstones of the City.
Science and technology starred in them, and year after year they provided new attractions that kept pace with the times. Science, as was its custom, provided the wonders of the modern world and explained how things worked. Technology boasted its home appliances - from "stereophonic systems" they moved to telephones, televisions, and video recorders until they reached marvelous computers that performed wonders on large, bulky screens.
There was always some unique invention that arrived from afar, alongside local pride with innovations made in Israel, to fill the patriotic void.
The patriotic spirit led the IDF to present its own pavilion with weapons, the Israeli industry showcased its "blue and white" products, and performance artists prepared artistic works, from wall paintings to useful pottery.
In the sixties, when the organizers still had educational aspirations, special emphasis was placed on social values, such as: the pavilion of the National Council for Accident Prevention, chess clubs, and handicrafts. Writers and poets came to lecture, theater actors presented canonical plays, and symposiums and Hyde Parks for young people were held on important global issues, as well as beauty competitions where "Youth City Queen" was chosen.
In the 70s, the first sponsorships from commercial companies were already given; "Yedioth Ahronoth" and "Ma'ariv LaNoar" competed for visitors' hearts, Bank Leumi was involved, as were Coca-Cola and Levi's jeans. Youth movements tried their luck in their own pavilions, and even the Kibbutz Movement, known for its agricultural lifestyle, relented and joined the urban celebration. It had one pavilion that presented it to the new youth, hoping to find clients among them to fulfill the dwindling Zionist vision in the big city.
ביתן צה"ל באחת מביתני עיר הנוער בשנות ה-70
Sports
Sports played a central role in the production. There was soccer and basketball, handball and volleyball.
Big and small competitions. Of schools, of cities, of neighborhoods. There were also ping-pong and table tennis competitions, as well as rollerblading and skateboarding, ball-juggling and headers, light athletics and running competitions.
In its peak years, sports events made up 30 percent of all activities in Youth City.
Entertainment
Entertainment was initially the icing on the cake, and as the years passed – it became the cake itself. In the sixties, military bands, impeccably dressed singers, and the legendary duos performed on the local amphitheater stage, singing patriotic and love songs with guitars and accordions.
Outside the amphitheater, boys and girls danced on large plazas - Hora and folk dances. In small, hidden corners, small discotheques opened, for those who loved "salon music." Over the years, entertainment and music changed.
Performances increased in volume, instruments became electric, drums thundered, singers who became celebrities, arrived directly from the hit parades. They sang rock and pop into powerful microphones and loudspeakers.
And then, when entertainment stars arrived, and with them came fans who invented hysteria in entertainment... that's when music rose to the peak of the events, and from there one could see the end.
Youth City lost control of itself. More on that in the next chapter:
Here, with a click, is the full story about the Tel Aviv Youth City (IrHanoar), which was an integral part of what happened in Israel between the sixties and the eighties.
For the full Story with all the chapters, click here:
Youth City and the Adolescence of Israeli Culture
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