22 AMERICANWAY
FEBRUARY 1 2008
PHOTOGRAPHSBYANNASCHORI
C O M E T O G E T H E R
As YouWAlk
toward theOld Spitalfields
Market, it is clear that the once downtrod-
denEastEndofLondon ison the rise.Long
associatedwith disease, crime, and poverty
— dating back to the days when Jack the
Ripper roamed these streets — the East
End, until recently, was shunned by most
well-to-doLondoners.All thathaschanged,
place,wherewell-made clothes are soldat a
fractionof theprices charged inother parts
of town. And though it was once off-limits
after dark, today London’s East End has a
buzz evenat night.
IfLondon is thecityof the future,with its
mind-bogglingmixof languagesandethnic-
ities and religions, then East London is
the placewhere it all seems towork, where
blacks and whites and Pakistanis and In-
dians andMuslims and Jews mix together
with very little friction. The tolerant neigh-
borhood has been a beacon for wave after
waveof immigrantssince theendof thesev-
enteenth century, when Huguenots seek-
ing religious freedom came from France,
followed first by the Irish and the Chinese,
and then, in the late nineteenth century,
by Jews fleeing persecution inEasternEu-
rope. After WorldWar II came Pakistanis
andBangladeshis— that’swhy some of the
street signs in theBrickLaneareaare in the
Urdu language. Now young families taking
their first tentative steps on the expensive
Londonproperty ladderhavemoved in.
Here you canfind freshbagels served24
hours aday, spicyBangladeshi cuisine, fan-
cyMexicanmeals, and traditional English
fare (like sausageandmashand jelliedeels)
mixed inwith theofferingsof trendyrestau-
rants and wine bars. Much of London has
become relentlessly upscale, with the same
priceychain storesand restaurantspopping
up in each neighborhood, but this unifor-
mity has not yet hit East London, where
each shopand restaurant seems original.
“It’shot,” saysPatriciaHolmes, an invest-
ment manager with the local city council
who expects theupward trend to accelerate
as the2012OlympicGames, based innear-
by neighborhoods on the eastern outskirts
of London, near. “The Olympics are really
the icingon the cake. It really is very trendy
at themoment. It’s where Londoners tend
to go out. There is just somuchhappening
here in terms of regeneration, with shops
and bars opening. Around Spitalfields,
BrickLane, andShoreditch, you see a large
number of shops and restaurants and bars
that are unique. If people have an eye for
theunusual, this areagives youavast selec-
tion. The place to be in the ’60s wasKing’s
Road; in the ’70s, it was Carnaby Street;
now it’sSpitalfields.”
When London was a major destination
TheEndIsNear
London’s East End, that is. Once home toHuguenots,
Irish, andPakistanis, this hot neighborhood is now
opening its arms to hipLondoners and in-the-know
tourists.
ByGregoryKatz andGemmaMorris
though, as high prices in other parts of the
city have made the East End, with its fine
old-housing stock and good public-transit
links, attractive tohipyoungpeople seeking
a foothold inLondon. The drab storefronts
have been replaced by hot new restaurants
and clubs, chic vintage-clothing shops,
small designer stores, and an openmarket-
Rokit
