So did horse stables, a pool and clubhouse where residents gathered to swap stories over brunches and beers. As the neighborhood grew, a school sprouted up. Dutch and British port workers moved into houses made from concrete breeze blocks. compounds into meticulously landscaped replicas of California suburbia.ĭubai didn't have much oil, but used what it had to build Jebel Ali, the region's first major shipping hub and dry dock. Expats settled with their families in well-guarded communities across the region, transforming outposts like Saudi Arabian Oil Co. “We recognize Jebel Ali Village’s importance to Dubai’s history and its residents and, for this reason, have taken the decision to redevelop the community to preserve and enhance its longevity for many more generations to come," the company said, arguing that the planned pools, parks, sports courts and bike trails would bring residents together in new ways.Īs oil boomed in the 1970s, American and European employees of international oil conglomerates, lured by generous cost-of-living allowances, descended on the dusty towns of the Persian Gulf. In response to a request for comment, Nakheel said it informed residents of its plans and complied with legal requirements. There's a history of people growing up, meeting each other, having their families right here." “I arrived here during the Iran-Iraq War. “We’re just gutted,” said Amanda James, 53, whose British father first moved the family to the village in 1984. Residents found 12-month eviction notices stuck to their doors.
Nakheel, the state-owned developer of Dubai’s signature palm-shaped islands, unveiled plans to demolish the neighborhood to make way for a gated community of luxury two-story villas. Expat residents still amble along quiet, windswept roads and play Christmas bingo at the clubhouse. Throughout Dubai’s meteoric rise from tiny pearling town to booming financial hub, Jebel Ali Village, a collection of cottages built in the late 1970s for European port workers, largely stayed the same. Outside Amanda’s childhood home in the same spot three decades ago were just miles of empty desert. It’s a skyline that in their young days had seemed impossibly far off. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - From the front porch of their cinderblock home, Garry and Amanda James gaze over Dubai’s soaring skyscrapers and massive malls.
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