The "Old Neighborhood"

My wife and I, having arrived in 1970 as new immigrants, have lived in three homes during our first 38 years in the country.

Jerusalem's Old City Jewish Quarter, Rehov Plugat HaKotel, at the Betar Student Hostel.

Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem.

Shiloh.

I recently attended a conference on the Katif Expulsion held at the Netiv Meir Yeshiva in Bayit Vegan and used the time to pop over to the house we lived in for ten years (two of which we were in London).

In the first, I discovered that a fourth floor had been added on to the building at 73 Bayit Vegan Street. Our apartment is/was the one at the top left in the picture, just to the right of the tree:

and the empty lot, between us and the park that connected Bayit Vegan and Rav Uziel Streets, is taken up by a building:

and the Sassoon House backyard garden across from us and extending up to HaPisga St. is gone. It is now a schoolyard/playground: