Ras Beirut, or the ‘head’ or ‘tip’ of Beirut, is the north-western corner of Beirut that sticks out into the Mediterranean (see Google map of neighborhood). A square, roughly three kilometers long and one kilometer wide, Ras Beirut is host to three of Lebanon’s oldest universities – the American University of Beirut (AUB, founded in 1866), the Lebanese American University (LAU, founded in 1924), and the Haigazian University (1955)… Had my fascination with Ras Beirut been confined to its natural or urban beauty, today I would have had little but an obituary to write about the most interesting neighborhood in which I have lived (see my video: The Sounds of Ras Beirut). However, more than anything else, it is people who give character to their habitat. Ras Beirut is still unique, not only thanks to the writers, scholars and community leaders >>> more 12 next › last » 
