Levant Fair

The success also improved the area provided by the municipality for entrepreneurs, a desolate, southern part of Tel Aviv with an old bus station.

A special symbol called the "Flying Camel" was designed for the fair by its chief architect, Aryeh Elhanani.

High Commissioner Arthur Wauchope, who had supported the Yishuv, liked the idea and helped to designate the Yarkon Peninsula, an area north of the city, for the construction of the complex.

The 1934 fair opened at the new constructed exhibition grounds at the north edge of Dizengoff Street next to the Tel Aviv Port on 26 April 1934.

The fair covered an area of ten hectares, including display booths of the participating countries, landscaping and gardening, new roads, Luna Park, and various sculptures.

The fair was of great importance for the local architecture and design of Tel Aviv, with pavilions being built by prominent Jewish architects of the time, including Aryeh Elhanani, Richard Kauffmann, and Arieh Sharon.

The fair's masthead flying camel statue built by architect Aryeh Elhanani in 1932, was located in the plaza and near the mouth of the Yarkon Maccabiah Stadium.

Some development continued north, beyond the Yarkon, including the establishment of the Tel Aviv Port, in 1936; the Sde Dov Airport, also in 1936; and the Reading Power Station, in 1938.

The grounds were opened by then Mayor Chaim Levanon, along with "Exhibition 50 years of Tel Aviv" and a design plan for a "Fair Middle" by architect Aryeh Elhanani.

In recent years there has been a rehabilitation effort at the old fairgrounds, which turned it into a shopping and entertainment area attached to the wider 'Namal' ("port") development.

It remembers Irgun fighter Dov Sternglas aka 'Sergeant Avner', who died from the wounds he suffered in the attack.

Herbert Plumer Square - that was the central entrance
Aerial view of the Levant Fair in the 1930s
Plaque commemorating 1945 Irgun attack on British military camp