The #KeepWalkingLebanon Expo

My friends who work at ad agencies know how much of a headache I am, and how unimpressed I am with most campaigns. I’ve managed to keep this blog free of press releases for the past 9 years, and only share and comment when I really like something, or really don’t.

The Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Lebanon campaign is one I am particularly fond of. It so happens that I was an intern at Leo Burnett Beirut when it was being made, so that made me appreciate it even more. I’m sure most of you in my age bracket and above remember that black and white ad with Bernard Khoury narrating, and images of his most infamous creations serving as a backdrop for his story, that quite frankly is perfect for a “keep walking” example.

I can’t believe that that ad was 10 years ago, an entire decade. This year, and over the past ten months, Johnnie Walker decided to give today’s university students and rising artists a chance to demonstrate their progressive ideas, and help them develop them in the run-up to the expo.

The Process

Architecture, interior design and fashion design were the disciplines targeted for the project. The idea was simple: what’s your interpretation of Keep Walking Lebanon?

Mentors were tapped to help develop each idea over the course of 4 months. Bernard Khoury, Azzi & Osta, Nada Debs, Wissam Smayra and Bechara Mouzannar helped the 14 teams selected from the initial 200 submissions.

The Expo

What started out as 200 submissions by university students from across Lebanon, ended up being 14 finalist projects that will be exhibited on February 7, 8, 9 at KED in Karantina.

The public will help choose the top 3 by voting when they visit the exhibit, and the 3 finalists will get a cash prize, apart from exhibiting their diverse projects. They also get internships with the pioneer mentors in each of their fields.

Details here.

Dublin Room: A First Look at Lebanon’s Newest Dancefloor Above the Clouds

The summer heat is proving brutal in Beirut, and if you’re like me, summer parties on the coast are a humid, sweaty hell and you look for the nearest industrial-grade fan to dance in front. That’s why I’m really excited about the newest addition to Frozen Cherry: Dublin Room.

Dublin Room will be the new section of Frozen Cherry, a place you will go into after you’ve had sunset drinks at their Sunset Bar with the killer views in the Metn hinterlands.

Dublin Room will open on Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes for special events on different days of the week. The dress code is casual, and the music will be a selection of local and international artists spinning and performing Techno, House and all the mild and diverse flavors in between.

It opens tomorrow night, with a jam-packed weekend that features Ronin and Raphael Merheb on Friday, and Ziad Ghosn and Yves on Saturday. Eli, Rolbac, 3LIAS, Nesta, Phil, Bibz, Fady Ferraye, Gunther and Three Machines are scheduled for this summer too, along with a few foreign surprises.

Here are some pictures of the final touches being put before the grand opening tomorrow night. I’m personally looking forward to dancing with that killer view, and the cool, crisp breeze!

The New BIEL: A First Look

After 17 years in its current location at the Beirut Waterfront near the Central District of Beirut, BIEL is moving to a new, much bigger, much more central location in Beirut’s Tahouita.

The 43,000sqm project will start operating as early as this April, with the first phase of the project already under construction. Phase 2 will be completed by June 2018, Phase 3 by April 2020 and the final fourth phase in April 2021.

Personally, I am glad BIEL is moving. The current location is an absolute nightmare when there’s an event, with thousands of cars coming in via a single entrance because all the others either didn’t exist, or were always closed with cement blocks for some reason. I would often park in Beirut Souks, and walk, given the parking was so expensive and often still a long walk to the actual venue.

The new location has several exits and entrances, as well as ample parking spots. It’s also adjacent to several main highways and thoroughfares that connect the venue to the areas in Metn, Baabda and Beirut.

Location: Tahouita

Tahouita Area, close to Emile Lahoud Highway. The new BIEL will be inside the red square above.

The Plans and Renders

I’ve been sniffing around the new BIEL story for a few weeks, and managed to dig up the below renders. Hopefully, I’ll have more information soon.

An earlier concept of what the new BIEL will look like

The good thing about the new BIEL is it will include a lot of green space that will be accessible to the public, which is much-needed given the only other public green space that’s big enough, Horsh Beirut, is largely still off-limits for us taxpayers even after years of demanding it be opened fully to all of Beirut’s residents.

I will be posting more as soon as I know anything new, but it looks like it’s going to be a lot more than just an exhibition space this time around!

As Downtown Reopens, Iconic Virgin Megastore on Martyrs’ Square Closes

I celebrated one of my birthdays as a teenager at the Virgin Cafe in the balcony area above where they used to sell the records and DVDs… Who among us hasn’t had a dinner or lunch on their rooftop? How many birthday gifts have you bought from there, from books, to guitars and other geeky gadgets and trinkets? Well, it’s gone now.

The Art-Deco style “Opera House” was built in the 1930s, and has been a Virgin Megastore flagship store in the region since 2001. The rising cost of rent, the dwindling sales of records and DVDs with online streaming taking over, as well as the government-enforced gridlock on Downtown Beirut for the past 8 or 9 years, meant that staying open there made no sense for the Virgin Megastore people, who have instead shifted to opening up in malls all over Lebanon instead.

It’s kinda ironic that days after the authorities decided to reopen this public square to taxpayers, one of the last establishments in that few blocks shuttered up.

Despite the nostalgia most of us have when it comes to that particular Virgin Megastore, I personally hope the building becomes an opera house again, a place where we can go and enjoy the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and other performances, like it was meant to be when it was built.

This begs the question whether or not the Central District will spring back to life. Personally, I am skeptical, especially if the current political class stays the same. How many times has this area risen up, then slowly got torn down? Whether it’s Nejmeh Square, or Uruguay Street more recently, the excitement proves to be always short-lived, thanks to heavy-handed tactics by the government to turn public squares into military bases for themselves and parking lots for their tinted-window, taxpayer-bought motorcades.

Goodbye Virgin Megastore Downtown! We had some good times, but I hope this building becomes an opera house again instead of another retail space…

Building in the 1930s (left) and 2000s (right)

Behind the Music: REUNION, and Why We Adore It

Clubbing and music are a very important part of my life. So important, that I can actually trace back the exact time and location when I first fell in love with Techno and House music as an adult. It was at The Basement. That’s where I met Jade, Tala and so many of my dearest friends who have become like family over the years.

The Basement was like a second home, where if you didn’t show up every weekend, the waiters would BBM me (yes, back then we used BBM more than Whastapp) just to make sure I’m alright. It was the place where I finally found what kind of music and scene I truly loved, and the culture that came with it.

Alas, The Basement was no longer, and even though C U NXT SAT is an awesome replacement that helped grow, educate and expand the scene, deep down, that longing for The Basement days would always gnaw at me. That’s until I saw Jade in late 2015, and he told me about the plans for a “club within a club”. A place that would be more intimate, darker and where flash photography was a no-no. As I heard him tell me more about his plans, I immediately told him, “So, a mini Basement?!” and got goosebumps.

Imagine my delight when I saw the iconic Basement logo at the entrance of the tunnel. They even had a chandelier, mirrors, and leather furniture. It truly was a “Reunion” for all the beautiful people I’d see at The Basement. It had the same soul, a slightly older crowd than The Grand Factory, and all the essential design elements that satiated the nostalgia we all felt.

What was extra though at Reunion, is the impeccable sound. I’m 100% sure it’s the best sound I’ve experienced anywhere at any point in my life. Some of the equipment was created a few years before I was even born, and I doubt anyone can still make them quite this good today. The secret ingredient though, was the audio design by my dear friends at 21dB.

A few months ago, I debuted the first episode of 21dB’s “Behind the Music” series which showcases the time and effort put into perfecting the sound in Beirut’s favorite clubs. This episode is by far my favorite of the series, because it’s about the place I feel most at home these days, and where every night spent there is a memorable one.

It was a pleasure watching Jade and Tala explain the series of events that took us from The Basement, C U NXT SAT, The Grand Factory and finally Reunion. It was also interesting to watch 21dB’s Fouad explain the rationale behind the iconic tunnel of light we’re all guilty of taking several selfies inside, the slow waning down of the Grand Factory music, till complete silence, before Reunion’s music slowly begins to fill your ears and then hits you when you make that final left turn and immerse yourself in the crisp, warm sound of the club.

Here’s the episode. I hope you enjoy it a much as I did! Check out the rest of 21dB’s work here.

Lebanon’s First Business Park Set to Open in Dbayeh’s Waterfront City

I’ve been following up the progress on the Dbayeh seaside for quite some time now, and perhaps the most interesting aspect of this rapidly developing area is the massive Waterfront City project.

We all know about the residential part, but I personally didn’t know about the massive business hub they’re also in the process of finishing right now.

Just to get an idea of how large this planned business hub is, it will be enough to house anywhere between 4000 and 5000 employees and will cover 60,000 square meters of office space, and 12,000 sqm of retail space.

It was designed by LEFT architects (Makram Kadi) and I’ve managed to find some renders of how Lebanon’s first “Grade A” business hub will look like. It’s important to note that they’re also trying to get the first LEED Gold certification for a commercial space in Lebanon, making it clear they care about sustainability and minimizing their carbon footprint.

Now, if you’re like me, you’ll be more interested in the non-office related stuff, and the WFC folks have a lot planned for this space. They will have an outdoor amphitheater that will encourage companies and startups to have talks and discussions outdoors when the weather is nice. There will be ample bike racks, as well as pay-as-you-go bikes to ensure the new hub is pedestrian and cyclist friendly, encouraging people to drive less, and walk and cycle more.

The new business hub will include lots of new restaurants and coffee shops, as well as several piazzas, with one central piazza (square) that will host big events like Christmas themed markets, art exhibitions and other public events that can be accessed for free.

If I wanted to start a company, and didn’t wanna get stuck in traffic heading into Beirut every single day of the entire rest of my life, I’d get a small apartment in WFC and open up a small company in the adjacent hub, that way I could walk to work, to lunch, to coffee, to drinks, without ever needing a car…

I’ll be updating you guys soon with what shops, restaurants and coffee houses are slated to open there.

The Mirrored Series 01

I’ve been falling in love with my mirrorless camera, and whenever I go to hinterlands of Lebanon, I try to capture as much of it as I can. I’ve also grown fond of mirroring effects for these captures, and I try to capture with my superzoom lens photos that I can later mirror. Here are five examples that I posted on my Instagram:

Follow me on Instagram for more!

https://www.instagram.com/ginoraidy/

9 Drone Photos of Some of Your Favorite Spots in Lebanon

Maher Iskandar is a good friend, and he’s taken up a new hobby of aerial photography. I tried to fly a drone for the first time this month, and I must say, it was quite the exhilarating experience, and I keep checking AliExpress every couple of days toying with the idea of buying my own! Till then, if ever, enjoy these awesome drone shots from Maher.

Batroun Coast

Who among us hasn’t walked on the massive ancient Phoenician Wall on the old part of Batroun? It’s also the area where most of us like to get our toes wet in the Mediterranean!

Mar Mikhael

Everyone’s favorite happy hour street for the past few years, as seen from above!

Jbeil (Byblos)

I love this shot of Jbeil, where you can see one of my favorite churches in the world, St. John with it’s gorgeous courtyard full of ancient mosaics, as well as the ancient “mina” port and the blue stuff are the seats for Byblos Festival!

Downtown Beirut (Place De L’Etoile)

Most of out childhoods involved a lot of time spent with family and friends here. Sadly, for the past few years, it’s been the scene of several crimes by Lebanon’s government against unarmed, peaceful protesters with righteous demands. It’s sad this place is a ghost town now, but what else would you expect with politicians like this? You do get a glimpse of Capitole on the bottom left though!

Jaziret El Araneb (Rabit Island, Off the Coast of Tripoli)

As far as hidden gems ago, this is one of my favorites. It’s a small archipelago right off Tripoli, a few minutes boat ride away. It’s sandy beaches are usually nice, clean and quiet, but try to stay away from them during the weekends if arguileh and Lebanese folk music isn’t your thing.

St Georges Hospital (Achrafieh)

Above Mar Mikhael, and beneath Sassine, you can see lots of neighborhoods of Achrafieh in this gorgeous shot from above, with the St Georges Hospital’s helipad clearly visible at the bottom.

The New Sky Bar

Most of you have probably seen endless hours of Instagram stories of the new Sky Bar, here’s a view from above!

Metn (Beit Chabeb, Bikfaya)

This is a view I’m very fond of. I grew up and went to school in Metn, and spent a lot of time in towns like Beit Chabeb, Bikfaya and many others you can see in this shot. In the distance, you can even see parts of Kesserwen, like Ajaltoun and Ballouneh!

Exclusive Sneak Peek of Ôrēent Club in Dbayeh

Dbayeh in the past couple of years has really started to pick up. If you ask me, I think it’s because of the permanent state of traffic, that clubs are opening up shop closer to heavily residential areas, not just in the heat of Beirut anymore.

Anyway, this summer, several rooftop clubs are opening adjacent to the stretch of highway that spans from Spinneys all the way to Le Royal.

The highest opens officially tomorrow night, on Saturday June 24, 2017. It’s called Ôrēent (pronounced like “Orient”) and it’s on the 11th floor rooftop of the building with the large Galaxy S8 ad you’ve stared at the past few weeks while stuck in traffic.

Here’s a first look at the club:

The music selection will be diverse at Ôrēent and includes RnB nights, Oldies and French nights, Said Mrad on Wednesdays and Jack Sleiman on Thursdays, with a mix of musical genres the rest of the week.

That’s the poster they have on their Facebook page:

Exclusive Photos from the New February 30!

I passed by the new Sayf February 30 venue on the way to the office today, and I got a little sneak peek at their absolutely awesome new venue right behind the Bus Station in Mar Mikhael.

The pathway towards the venue, which lights up at night

The Beloved Weird Items from February 30 are Back

Many of the items and pieces of furniture that made the Hamra February 30 awesome, are back! The chairs made out of pressure cookers, car parts, even the upside down furniture (which has been expanded upon). There’s plenty of new quirky stuff too, all designed and made locally.

A Hot-Air Balloon DJ Booth, and Mobile Stage

The new DJ booth looks like a hot air balloon, but the really awesome new addition is a stage that was built on an old wagon on the steel railroad. At certain times in the evening, the crossroads will close, and the stage will roll in on the tracks into the main venue, which I think is a really cool way of integrating the history of the place, along with the current use it’s serving.

The tracks with the mobile stage on them

Restored the old Wagons

What’s nice is that the new occupants have done what the government has failed to (despite our taxes paying them to do so). They’ve restored several of the wagons left abandoned there, as well as the tracks which have been incorporated into the place’s design, without damaging them (under glass boxes that are well-lit).