Apparently the land that the Hard Rock Café stands on has been sold to somebody who wants to build a skyscraper, and we know how desperately Dubai needs more of those. So yet another Dubai landmark will be pulled down. There's a Facebook Group. As I remarked on there:
What a shock! I remember when HRC was first built, and I thought 'what a crap location'. Now it's in the heart of New Dubai. I think I left Dubai at the right time: the powers that be have no idea how to build a city: they only know how to build buildings (well, some of them know how to build buildings). But cities are about much more than the buildings that they are made of: they're about soul and culture and character. Dammit.
Anyone can join this group: I wouldn't expect it to make a difference, but it would be nice to think that the authorities do take a bit of notice. Not that the evidence bears this out, of course: the Exiles and Country Club gone, Satwa and Safa Park under threat. Surely there must come a point where you stop throwing away the good stuff that you have and replacing it with tacky and soulless rubbish? Oh, sorry, this is Dubai.
17 March, 2008
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9 comments:
Although I won't shed tears at the tearing up of Hard Rock Cafe, but I surely agree with you. The city, the country & the whole gulf region is increasingly becoming soul-less. God help the future generations.
Aren't they building another hard rock cafe anyway? I remember reading about one near the world trade centre.
well, I dont care about any stupid clubs.
Just leave Safa Park alone
There's supposed to be a huge Hard Rock Hotel--like 60 or 70 floors--going up somewhere around the Trade Center. Don't know if it is the same establishment. I doubt that one can blame the city or even the one who will build something else at the HRC site. You have to blame the owners of the HRC who decided to sell it. I guess it was greed on their part, as they were probably offered more than they'd ever make on the business.
oh man, just when you thought it was safe to come out...
عندما يتطاول الحفاة العراة ....
God that's a shame - their burgers are lovely, if a little dry. And it is a real landmark.
What about the hotel there (the reason Hard Rock is licensed) is it being demolished too?
Yep--I think more than the HRC, it's the hotel that is considered obsolete. My question is whether the person who posted this story really has the facts right. I have no info to the contrary, but it would seem to me that the HRC is the more valued asset here. I don't see why they couldn't build a new hotel around it--one, in fact, that might smartly incorporate the HRC design. Afterall, the faux skyscraper design is nothing, if not the essence of what this whole area has become.
the land has been gifted to someone. don't bother with a petition. this 'someone' does not go online.
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