Summer of Scaffolding
When you have a two-century old building, you better devote resources to keeping it from falling down.
The Everlasting Appeal of James McBey’s Zohra
James McBey’s portrait of Zohra has been called “The Moroccan Mona Lisa.”
Tangier 1949: Gore Vidal Ambushes Truman Capote
Arch literary enemies Gore Vidal and Truman Capote meet on the docks of Tangier.
Tangier “the White City” Turns Red
Tangier, once the “White City” on the Strait of Gibraltar, succumbs to waterproof red paint.
Washington to Sultan: “Great and Magnanimous Friend”
Thankfully, someone remembered to mark the 225th anniversary of one of America's oldest treaties, the 1787 Treaty of Marrakesh – "The Treaty of Friendship & Amity" – between Morocco and the United States. Appropriately, the event was celebrated by the Amity Series, an interfaith dialogue initiative between Muslims and Christians, and took place last week … Read more Washington to Sultan: “Great and Magnanimous Friend”
From Syria to Tangier
Tangier has its Syrian mosque, with its own Facebook page. It has its Syrian quarter. Google it, and you'll get a page full of real estate ads. In Tangier, the quartier Syrien is a solidly middle class collection of villas built on slopes. Why "Syrian?" Because in the 1960s, a wave of Syrian exiles found … Read more From Syria to Tangier
Tangier’s Long Transition: Interzone to Moroccan City
From the blog "Space and Place," Dr. George F. Roberson The Frontline Diplomacy collection of oral histories, part of the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, offers priceless insights into the practice of US foreign policy over the latter half of the twentieth century. The collection was compiled by ADST, the Association for … Read more Tangier’s Long Transition: Interzone to Moroccan City
The Rooms Still Have a View
Art critic and social historian Terence MacCarthy has done it again: another historic hotel, another book. The title choice A Room With a View may disturb E.M. Forster and Merchant-Ivory fans, but the subtitle shows that this is not plagiarism: A History of the Grand Hotel Villa de France. And it's MacCarthy's Tangier, not Forster's … Read more The Rooms Still Have a View
A Century of Moroccan Mail
Commemorations often have a political or symbolic edge, so the 1912 establishment of French and Spanish protectorates in Morocco has been noted, but of course not celebrated. It's different with the centenary of the Moroccan post office. Cause for celebration – and innovation, with the first "audio stamp," which can play the national anthem on … Read more A Century of Moroccan Mail
Legation Pavilion: Endangered National Treasure
The Tangier American Legation Pavilion; photo by Elizabeth Gill Lui Though it is emblematic of the entire institution, the Pavilion was the last of the historic Legation buildings erected in this collection of structures built around and over pedestrians-only America Street in Tangier's medina. Here's what Honor Bigelow wrote of the building 80 years … Read more Legation Pavilion: Endangered National Treasure
