The night city

One nickname for Tel Aviv is The White City, for its distinctive bauhaus/international style architecture. But given the midday heat, maybe Tel Aviv should be called The Night City, because it truly comes alive after 10 pm, where young people and old people gather to drink, smoke, do shots, talk politics, talk high tech and generally have a good time. One thing that's so nice about being a tourist in this town is that all these people take you right into their world--they are not jaded about tourists the way New Yorkers are but are genuinely interested about where we're from, why we're here, what we've done. (Imagine listening to a Times Square tourist with such interest and enthusiasm.) Below, a gallery of night scenes from the nabe.