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BLITZ

Although it hasn't been around for particularly long (2011), Blitz has become a go-to source for genuine vintage finds in the Shoreditch area. We went together as a group and played dress up...

#blitz #shoreditch #Brick Lane #east london #london #cunts

THE OLD SHOREDITCH HIGH ST STATION

LONDON RECORD FAIR

With endless collections of vintage and collectors’ records, posters, CDs, and more, London Record Fair, one of Brick Lane’s many pop up events took place on the 3rd of October in the Old Trueman Brewery spanning over 4 days, with stalls ranging from Jazz and Blues to Psychedelic and everything in between.

THE PEARLY KINGS AND QUEENS OF SHOREDITCH

Three generations of Pearly Kings and Queens gathered last Sunday for the Harvest Festival at St Paul’s Church in now touristic Covent Garden. The British Tradition dates back to the early 19th Century when working class costmungers in North London in aid of London Based charities and orphanages. They decorated their clothes with mother of pearl buttons to attract attention from the crowds in particular boroughs of London. Shoreditch was home to markets specialising in Fruit, Vegetables, and Flowers in particular.

Today the tradition is kept alive more for the show of what used to be a big part of London in the first half of the 20th century, sadly with few Pearly Princes and Princesses being crowned now.

First Image courtesy of The Pearly Society, Last image courtesy of The Daily Mail

INTERVIEW

"I think the transformation is difficult in that a lot of aspects of creativity have become a lifestyle that people think they can co-opt themselves into and its less about taking risks and putting yourself out on a limb and making discoveries. It is much more about selling yourself a lot of the time and people are not really…they just want it, they don’t really understand."

SPITALFIELDS MARKET/MODERN DAY PEARLY QUEEN

TENSIONS IN SHOREDITCH. EXCERPT FROM INTERVIEW WITH EX CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS STUDENT & SHOREDITCH RESIDENTS

I was wondering about how the Bangladeshi community is treated nowadays

-The Bangladeshi community . By the end of the seventies all the Jewish people had moved out, they’d made a lot of money and they moved to North London to Finchley and..

To Golders Green, where I used to live…

-Theres nothing wrong with that, they came poor and they moved out. Then the area was very run down and people were living in appalling conditions. It’s always that generational thing with immigrants. The first generation wanted to put their heads down and put up with racism but by the end of the eighties the young lads were into hip hop and it became…that was a great thing. A friend of mine used to walk around in a van, with a group of enormously muscular Bangladeshis and if they saw some poor bloke from the NF (National Front) they’d get out the van and beat him up. And that was the first time, it was a pub- its now The Noodle King. It was called the Blade Bone, that was the National Front pub. And they just went in the pub and the pub shut and so that was how much it took to get rid of them. Just be a bit threatening and that was it.

SPITALFIELDS MARKET

INTERVIEW WITH EX CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS STUDENTS & SHOREDITCH RESIDENTS PART 4

Any knowledge you’d like to share?

Where are you living now?

-I live on The Boundary Estate; it’s just over there. It’s the first council housing in London.

I researched that!

-One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed, although it was really council and lots of social tenants when I moved in. more and more flats are bought and so on, £450,000 at least. Changes. All the shops have changed. There’s no more milk and fags at the corner shop, so that balance has really shifted in the last three years. I mean it’s changed obviously…

-Yeah, I mean need. Want!

-The National Front used to march here every week, every Sunday. They used to hand out their leaflets. It was a really poor area, incredibly.

-I even saw that when I moved in…

-I used to go to a National Front café. A friend took me there as a joke, because he knew they’d think ‘ he’s not one us.’ And it was disgusting. There were a lot of very weird and horrible people round here and now there’s a different sort of weird and horrible. But also nice people. There’s nothing wrong with creativity...

STREET ART

INTERVIEW WITH EX CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS STUDENTS & SHOREDITCH RESIDENTS PART 3

-It's changed massively, I mean I’ve been in London on and off for nearly more than 25 years and when I first came here nobody came here. Nobody went to Hoxton Square at all. It was dead and it had massive, kind of sleazy gay clubs. Then just factories and…

We spoke to someone, he started in the 70s 80s, and he was a leather worker. He said that now it’s died down so much. It used to be just leather workers.

-But, no, we don’t want just leather workers.

Of course not.

-I mean London in the seventies, I moved from Bethnal Green to this area in 1988.

My mum did as well, in ’77 she came up here and she said it changed so much.

-I mean the initial moment was very exciting because artists were coming because there were empty buildings and they were cheap and it was really buzzy and edgy.

-I mean artists always lived in the studios…

-Galleries as well. There’s a strong tradition of artists and activists in Hackney.

-But I got a lot of stick when I moved here in ’88, I used to. Because I didn’t look like…there were people stopping me in the street calling me a cunt.

Seriously? But why though?

-I used to wear dresses and things and you didn’t. I mean I don’t think you could wear dresses now, that’s how far back we’ve gone. But in the eighties it was a big thing.

So why were you here in the 1980s?

-It was cheap.

My Mum moved up from Hackney

-Well Hackney is now trendy, as you know. But we’re all artists, my wife got a first from Saint martins in the 90s, she worked with John Galliano and she illustrated for him and they were very good friends. So I knew Saint Martins very well when it was in Charing Cross road, it had a lot of energy.

THE TRUMAN BREWERY

THE SEDATION OF MILLIONS

This month Shepherd Fairey, most well known for his Obey Giant campaign and Obama’s ‘HOPE’ poster has illustrated a grand political design entitled ‘The Sedation of Millions’ hidden in the centre of Shoreditch. Inspired by the Public Enemy’s album ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’ Fairey touches on America’s indifference and complacency regarding important social and political issues through combining pop art, graffiti, bold graphics and appropriation art.

INTERVIEW WITH EX CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS STUDENTS & SHOREDITCH RESIDENTS PART 2

Is there anything that you’ve really noticed?

-More coffee bars, less creative.

Less creative would you say?

-It’s more generalized.

-Everything is led by economics. The artists come to the East End because they need work and they need somewhere to live. Artists are cheap, or used to be; now artists are all posh. But they used to need the money and they make a place nice. They can see things that property developers can also see. So artists need a big space; they need a loft; they need a warehouse. And then their middle class friends come and they say ‘ooh its nice, we thought the East End was really rough' (that’s what they used to say) but its actually really rather nice and you don’t get mugged when you get off the tube. They think ‘oh well maybe we could move here!’

-Yeah and then they start complaining about the aspects that they were once attracted by.

-And then they go ‘well we don’t like these artists!’ They open their coffee bars and then artists cant afford to live here anymore and they move out!

They move out further but everyone’s following them.

-Yes, in yesterdays Evening Standard there was a letter about this. Somebody complained about Hoxton. Somebody who had previously written about Hoxton. He said it was artistic it was exciting and now its just all coffee bars. This guy said that in New York they have a balance, believe it or not. Because they have rent ceilings and they try and keep an area with character. But London has no social planning at all.

This area has changed massively.

-Boris Johnson has never turned down a single property building or plan.

Really?

-If there is an appeal he will always overrule. If you check he’s not turned down a single one. There was one here next to spitalfields market and he overruled it. Even Dan Cruickshank, the architect, came and said ‘ you cant knock these buildings down they’re of enormous historical importance’ and he just overruled; he says its promoting business.

-He doesn’t care that there’s a lot of history at all…

-Oh no, they don’t care about history. He cares about business.

That’s such a shame because there’s a lot of culture that could remain.

-Yeah but he belongs to, he’s rich, his family -he went to Eaton. They have the culture; they’ve got country houses and all that stuff. They don’t really get the fact that these buildings were artisans and Huguenot weavers who needed big windows.

BOX PARK

This pop-up mall constructed by refurbished shipping containers in 2011 is the quirky alternative to your high street store. Home to fashion retail shops, art exhibitions and bars it has carefully designed to be original and exclusive.

The unique destination puts together the fashion and the art community which has been described by Jessica (a local customer we interviewed during our visit) "a cool idea and really well executed".

However, according to UKBA Housing Centre statistics, the nearby area of Tower Hamlets has the highest child poverty rate in the UK. Also, Box Park is located in the centre of the multiethnical area of Brick Lane which houses the largest Bangladeshi community in London.

First Image credit: John Claridge 1982

HOXTON TOM MCCOURT AND THE 4-SKINS

Tom McCourt was one of the most influential members of the skinhead/mod revival in East London during the late '70s early '80s. He was also the leader of the Punk/Oi! band The 4-Skins. The band was active between 1978-1984 and 2007-present.

CHAOS (LYRIC)

Do you remember in 1969? Seeing all the skinheads standing in a line Foaming at the mouth, Waiting for a fight High boots, cropped hair, what a fuckin sight Come back of the skinhead come back of the boot People that we don't beat up We're gonna fucking shoot We are the new breed, we will have our say we are the new breed, we ain't gonna die Trouble east London Trouble in the street On the street corners Where the gang still meets Talking about the weekend What they're gonna do? If you aint careful They are gonna do you! Come back of the skinhead come back of the boot People that we don't beat up We're gonna fucking shoot We are the new breed, we will have our say we are the new breed, we ain't gonna die Chaos in the city Civil war now Skinheads taking over Like skinheads know how Skinhead with his boots on Nobodys fool Skinheads taking over Chaos is the rule! Chaos, chaos, chaos - dont give a toss Chaos, chaos, chaos - dont give a toss! Do you remember in 1969? Seeing all the skinheads standing in a line Foaming at the mouth, Waiting for a fight High boots, cropped hair, what a fuckin sight Come back of the skinhead come back of the boot People that we don't beat up We're gonna fucking shoot We are the new breed, we will have our say we are the new breed, we ain't gonna die Chaos, chaos, chaos - dont give a toss Chaos, chaos, chaos - dont give a toss!

PHOTOS REFERENCE http://the4skins.tripod.com/

STREET ART

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