Katamonim
To the west, Old Katamon branches out into several neighbourhoods collectively called the "Katamonim" (officially "Gonenim," lit. "Defenders"), built in the early years of the state to accommodate the large wave of new immigrants, previously living in tent camps. These neighborhoods were assigned Hebrew numerals : Katamon Khet ("Katamon 8"), Katamon Tet ("Katamon 9), etc. Some of those neighborhoods have a second name. Katamon Hei (5) is also called San Simon Neighborhood, a part of Katamon Het (8) and Katamon tet (9) is sometimes called San Martin Neighborhood, and Katamon zayn (7) is Pat neighborhood.
Katamon Khet was built at the end of the 1950s, and Katamon Tet in the mid-1960s. The Katamonim are characterized by long apartment blocks on pillars, providing low-cost housing. Some of the buildings are still government-owned, although the Amidar housing company sold many of the apartments to the residents in the 1970s. The neighborhood hosts a well-known WIZO community center called after Helena Kagan.
Prior to the Six-Day War in June 1967, the Katamonim were on the Jordanian-Israeli armistice line. Massive infrastructure improvement was financed by an urban renewal project known as "Project Renewal" over a period of two decades. Many small apartments were combined into larger ones and the outward appearance of the apartment blocks was improved. Since the 1990s, many Russian and Ethiopian immigrants have been given housing there.
The Jerusalem Tennis Center, founded in 1981 and dedicated in 1982 by the Jewish community of South Africa in memory of Yossi Zeituni, a tennis coach who fell in the Lebanon War, is located in the Katamonim. The center has 19 courts and a stadium with seating for 2,000 spectators.
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