April of 2009 marks the centennial of Israel’s metropolis- Tel Aviv. It’s hard to believe that a bustling city of 390,000 (nearly 3 million with the suburbs) started out as barren landscape and sand dunes…

Almost exactly 100 years ago, there was nothing here except the vast sweep of sand and a few fruit orchards. But Jaffa was at bursting point and houses were already going up outside the walls.

As the story goes, a group of 66 families from Jaffa, dreaming of a new, spacious utopia in which to live, stood in the sand dunes and drew lines in the sand to define the boundaries of what would become Tel Aviv. To divide up the plots, they had an impromptu raffle, using sea shells.
From Middle East Times Online, March 17th

Here’s what Tel Aviv used to be:

 
And what it is today:

Not bad. Happy birthday, Tel Aviv!