This house was built by Abraham Zeev Gordon. He came to Rishon LeZion from Vilnius, bought land and became a winemaker. His family lived on the second floor and the ground floor was rented out. There were many interesting people among the many tenants of this house. Remember the revolt of Joseph Feinberg and Israel Belkind? After being allowed to return to the settlement, Lelik Feinberg, Yosef's brother and his wife Fania Belkind, Israel's sister, rented a room here. Holtzman, Gordon's son in law, bred ostriches in the yard of the house, because of a high value of their feathers in Europe. Who knows, if not for World War I, Holtzman's business could succeed. In the 30s Holtzman acquired a lot of land on the south of Jerusalem. Today they are called Gush Etzion. There was a box office in a non-extant Toporovsky's house and now here is a hotel. A couple by the name of London called their boarding house simply "London Pension". Aaron London, a coachman from Jaffa, married Rosa from Rishon LeZion and bought a stagecoach. Board members used it for getting to Beirut and Baghdad and as payment for the service, Aaron London was granted the right to open a hotel. This house was later sold to Zusammer, a watchmaker, whose shop was on the first floor. In the years before the Israeli War of Independence Zusammer secretly repaired guns to members of the Jewish armed resistance.
This is a special tour and a unique route. Its difference from the usual city tour is that your mobile phone is the guide. As in every excursion, it takes time to get used to the tour guide, his style, rhythm and pathways. The only difference is that in this case, you are the storyteller, you are walking yourself and set the pace for yourself - all according to your style. Just give yourself time to get used to it and you will come to life with a story full of the vicissitudes of the lives of real people, a story about their joys and sorrows, a story in which urban legends rise from the past, instill hope and simply sums up: here it all began.