In Jumeirah 2 sits what resident Butheina Kazim calls “a compound of oil men-era bungalows built in the 1980s”. By this time next year, they will be gone – another chapter erased in a city that never stops its march towards the future; building, expanding inland and upwards, often over the past.
The villas look as if they were lifted straight from Venice Beach, yet for generations of residents, they have carried meaning about inhabiting this city. “These structures are treasure troves of meaning and rootedness,” says Kazim, founder of Cinema Akil.
“In a place where there’s a constant pressure to do away with the past, sentimentality or attachment can feel invisible, but it governs so much of how you exist here. These houses meant something to the people who chose to make them home. They eventually became a community.”
For Kazim, that cluster of low-slung, three-bedroom, tile-roofed homes – wedged between aesthetics clinics, the perpetual glow of luxe shisha joint Huqqabaz and the Four Seasons – became a haven for the city’s art, design and creative communities.
“There is something so powerful in belonging to a community,” says resident Ghita Mejdi, an executive coach and founder of the Kliff Project.
“When we moved in six years ago, it was just polite nods from afar, and somehow that turned into knowing each other’s names and habits. The comfort of seeing the same faces every day, saying hello, asking about dogs and families, greeting the gardeners, even feeding the stray cats together. Over the years, we’ve been there for each other, in the little things and in the bigger moments too.”
When the bulldozers arrive, it won’t only be the bricks and mortar that disappear, Mejdi says. “It’s hard to think we have to start from scratch and imagine life in Dubai without these people.”
For Sunny Rahbar, founder of The Third Line art gallery, the bungalows are bound to memory.
“We used to all be members at the Hilton Beach Club across the street when I was a kid. It was where we hung out after school. That place is long gone. Even the place that replaced it is long gone.”
Rahbar adds: “When we were children, we’d pass these villas on our way home from the club. There used to be more of them. These are the last ones left. They’ve always been a mainstay of this stretch of Dubai.”
She has lived in one of the villas for more than a decade. “When I discovered that one was available for rent 13 years ago, I was completely over the moon. I was so happy I could live in one of these bungalows I remembered from my childhood. This house has been through a lot of my life with me.
“I’ve been in Dubai 46 years. For me, living here was a way to stay in a house that was part of the old city I grew up in. Leaving is very difficult. It’s the end of an era,” she adds.
In this poignant photo essay, The National’s Antonie Robertson captures the beauty of these homes and the melancholy of leaving them behind. And it leaves us wondering where the next generation carrying Dubai’s creative heartbeat will decide to congregate and build lives as a shared community.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
1. Dubai silk road
2. A geo-economic map for Dubai
3. First virtual commercial city
4. A central education file for every citizen
5. A doctor to every citizen
6. Free economic and creative zones in universities
7. Self-sufficiency in Dubai homes
8. Co-operative companies in various sectors
9: Annual growth in philanthropy
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
Brief scores:
Juventus 3
Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'
Frosinone 0
Jebel Ali results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 64,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: One Vision, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gabr, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
4pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 96,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
4.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Torno Subito, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Untold Secret, Jose Santiago, Salem bin Ghadayer
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
HOW%20TO%20ACTIVATE%20THE%20GEMINI%20SHORTCUT%20ON%20CHROME%20CANARY
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