Thousands of commuters passing through the Allenby Station on Tel Aviv’s Red Line will soon be invited to pause their journey and look up — for a glimpse of the city as it once was, in a time of dusty roads, horse-drawn carriages and windswept beaches.
Starting November 11, 2025, the station will host a new photography exhibit titled “Stations in Time: Nostalgic Tel Aviv Through the Lens of KKL Photographers.” The exhibition will feature dozens of historical images of early Tel Aviv, spanning the British Mandate period through the city's formative years after the establishment of the state.
Most of the photographs are drawn from the archive of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which holds over 120 years of documentation of life in the Land of Israel. Several of the images have been colorized by Tamar Hiradny and the Jerusalem Fine Art Printing studio to restore the vibrancy lost over the decades.
Curated by Efrat Sinai, Moran Har-Yehazkeli, and guest curator Orit Lotringer, the exhibit aims to revive everyday life as it once was. “We colored some of the photographs to remind viewers that life wasn’t lived in black and white,” said Sinai. “Tel Aviv back then was full of color, light and movement—just like today.”
The colorization process was guided by historical research. One rare photograph captures Allenby Street on a snowy day in 1937. Another features Zina and Meir Dizengoff, one of the few known photos of the couple together; the coloring of the image was based on Meir Dizengoff’s original eye color.
The exhibit offers a vivid look at life in Tel Aviv’s early days: barefoot newspaper vendors on Allenby, crowded classrooms, scenes from the first years of Herzliya Gymnasium and municipal elections in the 1920s.
According to Lotringer, the station’s location is part of the exhibit’s message. “Many of these photos were taken in the very area where the train runs today,” she said. “It creates a bridge between Tel Aviv of the past and Tel Aviv of the present. We’re inviting commuters to stop for a moment—between one train and the next—and look at the past as it comes back to life in the heart of the city.”
In addition to the photo display, the station will include a three-meter interactive booth allowing visitors to further explore the history of the first Hebrew city through a dynamic visual experience. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, is a joint initiative of the KKL-JNF archive and the Red Line’s operating company, Tevel.