Daily Star – Lebanon
Nov 11 2006

Beirut’s real-life version of ‘The Yacoubian Building’

By John Ehab
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, November 11, 2006

BEIRUT: Longtime residents of Beirut could be forgiven for reacting
to the popularity of "The Yacoubian Building" – the bestselling novel
written by Alaa al-Aswany and the blockbuster film adaptation
directed by Marwan Hamed – with some confusion. Aswany’s book and
Hamed’s movie concern the iconic status of a 70-year-old neoclassical
building on Talaat Harb Street in Downtown Cairo. Erected by
Armenian-Egyptian businessman Nichan Yacoubian in the 1930s, the
once-grand building fell on harder and harder times in the 1960s,
when it was left in the charge of numerous superintendends after a
wave of nationalizations under then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser. In
"The Yacoubian Building," the structure is the setting for an
unfolding drama narrating Egypt’s modern sociopolitical history.

There is, however, another Yacoubian Building, equally storied and
symbolic, spread across two blocs and located in the Caracas
neighborhood of Ras Beirut. Like it’s namesake in Cairo, Beirut’s
Yacoubian has been witness to turbulent times.

At the time Cairo’s Yacoubian was being built, a vacant plot of land
populated primarily by some fruits, cacti and vegetable bushes was
sold to an Armenian-Lebanese man named Yacoub Yacoubian. A fruit
seller named Umm Mahmoud once lived on those lands and remembers the
place before the huge buildings went up.

"We used to live on this land, tending the garden for the Mezhers,"
recalls Mahmoud. "After the Mezhers sold the land … we moved."

Not long after, Mahmoud adds, foundations were laid for an enormous
10-story, double-bloc building with 140 flats. Unlike the colonial
style of Cairo’s Yacoubian, Beirut’s counterpart came shaped like a
U-turn, copping the style of Le Corbusier.

Samia al-Assi moved into the Yacoubian in 1974 and never left. In the
days before Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War, Assi recalls, the building
was famous for the artists who lived there. Singer Faiza Ahmad and
comedian Abdel-Salam al-Nabulsi were among the celebrity residents.
Back in the day, recalls Elie Qartabawi, who resides in the Yacoubian
still and has lived there longer than anyone else, "it was the
biggest, most famous, most expensive building in Lebanon."

The Yacoubian used to boast a famous nightclub – the Venus – situated
one floor below ground. A legend in its time, the Venus welcomed
Cabinet ministers, MPs and army commanders alike. It was also a
favored destination for wealthy tourists from the Gulf. Shortly after
the Civil War broke out, the Venus closed its doors.

In the years that followed, the internally displaced sought shelter
in the building. Among them was Mohammad Sweidan, otherwise known as
Abu Ali. During the war he became the Yacoubian’s natour, or
concierge.

"I [saw] terrifying days during that war, and often received death
threats," sighs Abu Ali.

All the local militias passed through the Yacoubian, and therefore
past his post.

Abu Ali says he was twice kidnapped by militiamen who were inquiring
after arms. With the Israeli invasion in 1982, he adds, an officer
pulled up to the building and called on all inside to surrender their
weapons.

Around 60 pistols came tumbling down into the courtyard, says Abu
Ali, who was ordered to collect them for the officer. The next day he
found one pistol left behind. He sold it to a banker for LL500.

"Like anything else in Lebanon," says Qartabawi, "the Yacoubian
declined during the war. One day a lady asked me: ‘Where is the
Yacoubian refugee camp?’"

These days, the Yacoubian is known as the home of Abu Elie, the bar
that occupies the lower back corner of the building.

"The people who come here are mostly intellectuals, mostly leftist
and always progressive," says Nina Jamal, a customer.

Posters of Che Guevara dominate the walls, along with pictures of
Marx, Lenin, Nasser, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Samir Kassir and George
Hawi.

Abu Elie himself once lived in the Yacoubian and ran a sandwich shop
in the neighborhood. In the early 1990s, he moved back to Bourj
Hammoud and opened the bar.

Still, confusion abounds. Since the "The Yacoubian Building" has been
screening in Beirut’s movie theaters, Assi says, "many people ask me
if they shot the film here."

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