I mean, it's quaint, right? It has a sort of charm. The carved stone, the little balconies. Great, bravo. But I'm so bored by it! There's no gitz, no glamour, where is the bling? 
Now that's more like it. Much, much better. I'm alright, I'm going to be fine. *Phew!* That was close.
That's a letter of the Arabic alphabet, surrounded by crime scene tape. I'm guessing someone murdered it. The only thing missing is the chalk outline, which I guess will be drawn once the detectives arrive to gather evidence.
I've seen others elsewhere in town, even a stunning one in red. That was the first one I saw, and at first I didn't get it. I thought maybe the paint on the letter was wet, maybe that explained the caution tape. But after coming across a few more examples I recognized that someone was trying to tell me something with these letters, these causalities of unnamed, undisclosed violence. 
Right in the middle of the park, there's a lovely sort of village of bamboo huts surrounded by lovely, well-tended, blossoming gardens. It was like an oasis, except that the surroundings were green and lovely too. But it was a really sunny day and the huts provided enough shade that we felt comfortable and cool even at mid-day.
This collection of structures can be seen in this google map image. See the brownish circle in the middle of the triangle? That's it. To get to it, you have to enter the park from the side where the lone red arrow is, from Omar Beyhum street. The entrance is easy to miss, so keep a look out for a green gate. You can park along Omar Beyhum street and enter through the gate. 
You can also enter from the opposite side of the park, from November 22 street, as indicated by the other red arrow. But if you do, you'll find a fence between you and the delightful bamboo huts pictured above.
I'll go ahead and call it site-specific art. The site is an urban sidewalk in Hamra. The art consists of a piece of sod and an identifying sign (intentionally referential to Beirut's signs denoting sites of cultural interest) which reads "Enjoy your green space". My kid's in the shot to provide scale.
I wonder, as it gets hotter, will Beirut look less green?
It was the difference in the light that made me want the comparison. So I took a second image thinking they'd be nearly identical. Now that I've got them, I can see that the angles are completely different. The images are completely different.
It's a new outdoor exhibit of the history of newspaper publishing in Beirut, located at the northwest corner of the new downtown shopping mall--Beirut Souks. Reproductions of localy published papers are organized by date and displayed on these pillars. Here are some additional views:
A sign at the exhibit said that the originals are held in the National Library, and that there is a guidebook for the exhibition which features additional images. I'll have to get my hands on it.
Photos weren't allowed during the show, so I took this one before everything started. Eventually they lowered that metal ball and four motorcyclists (on full size bikes) piled in and defied death zooming around in there at unpardonable speeds. 
I was so happy to see this because we actually have two little chairs for our girls that were constructed in a very similar way. In the background you can see a few baskets and these are incredibly typical--if I could make a visual lexicon for Lebanon, this is the basket you'd find in it. Everything, the size, color, shape, construction--that's a Lebanese basket.
Today all over the world, people are posting funny signs from their city. 
