Portobello, Dublin

In Dublin, Portobello is an area near the South Circular Road near South Richmond Street and including Clanbrassil Street. The area was also known as Little Jerusalem because in the first half of the Twentieth century, it was the heart of the Jewish community in Ireland.

Portobello also refers to a bridge across the Grand Canal at Rathmines and South Richmond Street. Like the Portobello area of London, Dublin's Portobello was named for the capture by Admiral Vernon in 1739 of Porto Bello in the Gulf of Mexico.

Originally there was a large harbour on the canal, with a hotel, but the harbour was largely filled in in 1948. The Grand Canal is still very picturesque and swans often mingle with students attending the private college Portobello College. The area is home to some fashionable pubs and restaurants and has a lively and vibrant air. Dublin's Jewish museum is located nearby, on the South Circular Road, as this was formerly quite a strongly Jewish quarter. Leopold Bloom, the fictional Jewish character at the heart of the James Joyce novel Ulysses, lived at 52 Clanbrassil Street Upper; a plaque commemorating this can be found on the wall of that house. The area declined following the end of World War II, with a number of Jews emigrating to Israel, and the majority emigrating to New York. A small number of Jews still live in the area, but the Jewish owned shops, schools, and small businesses no longer exist.

Altona is a local landmark, less preferred though than the red brick St. Kevin's Church at Bloomfield Avenue.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Portobello, Dublin".