Photographing East London - Brick Lane

Brick Lane (Bangla: ব্রিক লেন) (as you can see in the picture) is a long street in the Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The street runs from Bethnal Green in the north, and passes through Spitalfields (where we began our photography class). The Brick Lane Market, developed in the 17th century for fruit and vegetables, sold outside the city. The Sunday market, like the ones on Petticoat Lane and nearby Columbia Road, dates from a dispensation given to the Jewish community. Brick Lane is now it the heart of the city's Sylheti Bangladeshi community, and is sometimes known as Banglatown.
The street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane. Emma Elizabeth Smith was viciously assaulted in Osborn Street, the part of Brick Lane that meets Whitechapel High Street, on 3 April 1888. It was one of the first of the eleven Whitechapel Murders, some of which were attributed to the serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Brick Lane derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture, using the local brick earth deposits, that began in the 15th century.
Immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis. The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour.
The changing face of Brick Lane can be told by a Huguenot chapel which was built on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street in 1742. By 1809, it had become The Jews’ Chapel, for promoting Christianity to the expanding Jewish population. In 1898, the building was consecrated as the Machzikei HaDath, or Spitalfields Great Synagogue. It became the London Jamme Masjid mosque in 1976.


Brewing came to Brick Lane before 1680, with water drawn from deep wells. One brewer was Joseph Truman, who is first recorded in 1683, but his family, particularly Benjamin Truman, went on to establish the Black Eagle Brewery.
Brick Lane to me is the London home of bagels. As every one knows you can’t get good bagels outside NYC but 10 years ago when we first moved here, this was the only place you could get a rough approximation. . I had a bagel on Sunday in one of the remaining shops and it was extremely disappointing. Bagels are widely available now everywhere. The bagels sold at my local Sainsbury are better.
You should have seen the queue though!

Photographing East London - Spitalfield Market

Jeff and I have gone back to school! Well, not really. We are taking a two day photography class at City Lit called Photographing East London. Jeff is an excellent photographer so he has come along as a refresher course with me. Last year, we bought a really nice Nikon digital camera to take on our trip to Tanzania and I never use it because it baffles me with all these menus and dials!

This class is on two consecutive Sundays. Yesterday was day one. I have to tell you, it was one of the worst days in London to be outside doing photography. It was a dark and rainy day. As they say here, it was tipping it down…………….. another words- pouring!

After a short classroom lecture, the whole class (about 8 of us!) headed to the Old Spitalfields Market, a covered market in East London (as you would suspect from the name of the course!). The existing buildings were built in 1887 on the site of a public market founded in 1682 by Charles II . The former wholesale fruit and veg market moved way in the early 1990’s. Spitalfields now sells clothes, stuff and a bit of everything really. There are many restaurants as well as fresh food market stalls.

The market was very crowded and it was hard to photograph. Later when Jeff and I were discussing the class we talked about the difficulties of taking good pictures of people. I learned a lot about film speed, shutter speed and apertures in getting to grips with this camera. One of the lessons I learned yesterday is that I should have gotten closer to the subjects. I felt very shy and intrusive about it. I relied more on a longer lens and photo- editing to get the pictures I wanted. Class mates had quite a few run-ins with security while taking photographs yesterday. I will never make it the paparazzi business! Next week, we are going to the uncovered Columbia Road Flower Market. Hopefully the weather will be better.

Moran's Oyster Cottage

It is amazing how much advice you get when you travel to Ireland. There were no end of friends and acquaintances recommending hotels, restaurants and pubs. Now, Jeff and I are not so foolish that we ignored the recommendations we got.

Apparently, County Galway is the place for oysters (yeah, you would think being on the Atlantic coast?) and about 10 miles south of Galway City is Moran’s Oyster Cottage a 200-year-old thatched cottage set on the Kilcolgan River. Moran’s holds an annual oyster festival and has a reputation as the place to go for the best oysters in Ireland. The place is stuffed with celebrity photos (Pierce Brosnan included!) Oysters reign supreme here!

Not caring for oysters myself, I really didn’t care but Jeff did! So off to The Weir in Kilcolgan did we go! Moran’s lived up to its reputation and I haven’t seen Jeff looking so self-satisfied since the last time he was at Sharky’s eating grouper! I had the soup and a nice crab sandwich! Yes, if you go to County Galway, take my advice and find Moran’s!

The Merry Wives of Windsor

I had a rare treat on Wednesday. Polli, Loretta, Anna and I attended a production of the Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames Theatre.

We had great seats thanks to Polli in this open air theatre and the rain held off for a few hours.



Christopher Benjamin played an excellent and witty Falstaff and was backed up by a wonderful cast including Serena Evans and Sarah Woodward as the merry wives!

National S'more Day

Today is National S'Mores Day in the USA. If you ever went camping as child or especially if you were a Girl Scout (as I was!) you are very familiar with S’mores! A s'more is a traditional campfire treat consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a slab of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. They were first mentioned in the Girl Scout Handbook in 1927, which stated they were inspired by Loretta Scott Crew's campfire treats. S'more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, "some more". Some people believe that the name originated from people who were so busy eating that they did not have time to speak in complete sentences, or that their mouths were very full.
How do to make one? A marshmallow is skewered on the end of a long stick and held just above the campfire until its outer surface starts to brown, char, or even catch fire (depending on how you like it!). Once hot, the inside of the marshmallow becomes soft. The marshmallow is quickly pinched off its stick with the waiting graham crackers, one of which has a piece of chocolate on it (usually a Hersey chocolate bar). Ideally, the heat from the roasted marshmallow partially melts the chocolate into a gooey mess. Making s'mores is so popular that supermarkets often carry graham crackers, marshmallows, and huge chocolate bars in the same shelf section during the summer months. Now get out there and celebrate!

SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann.

I was thinking about my very talented friend the wordsmith Paul Minx yesterday. His play is moving to NYC and I wish him well and hope his play is picked up for a very long run somewhere! Jeff and I had gone to see an excellent production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion at the Old Vic and I also received an email from another friend Denise Higgins – Regan who is directing a play in NYC this summer (700 WIVES - THE MUSICAL). I have some very talented friends! Paul’s Play SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann will be opening at the Fringe NYC Festival on August 8th.

On July 14th, at the Bar Kick in Shoreditch Jeff and I attended the London one night only performance of SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM: the return of Jacqueline Susann. The play made for a great evening out on a dreary Monday night! In this one-person comedy, Debora Weston portrayed the story of Jacqueline Susann, author of the VALLEY OF THE DOLLS in a hilarious, sad, and very engaging manner. I absolutely loved her! I had no idea that Jackie had a thing for Ethel Merman! Debora was fabulous darling! Afterwards, Jeff surprised me by saying he also read the Valley of the Dolls under the blankets with a flashlight back in the 60’s!

If you are in NYC try not to miss this one! To quote the author “For Jackie the sexual liberation was merely just another cocktail party!”

Pygmalion

Today, Jeff and I are off to see a production of Pygmalion at the Old Vic. Written by George Bernard Shaw written in 1913,the play is based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion. Many people know it better as the story of My Fair Lady. The play tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics (based on phonetician Henry Sweet), who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette.

As a side note, at the beginning of the movie, Professor Higgins when he first meets her in Convent Garden tells Eliza that she is from Lisson Grove. I always enjoy telling people that I live in the same neighborhood! I am always puzzled by the fact that Eliza is referred to as a cockney when Lisson Grove is no where near Bow Bells!
Cockney often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End and the language they speak. According to traditional definition, a "true" Cockney is someone born within earshot of the Bow Bells, i.e. the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside in the City of London (which is not itself in the East End). Formerly it included Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Stepney, Bethnal Green, Limehouse, Mile End, Wapping, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and The Borough.

The first English production in opened at His Majesty's Theatre, London on April 11, 1914 and starred Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Eliza and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Henry Higgins; it was directed by Shaw himself. I am looking forward to this production as today is the birthday of both Shaw and Kevin Spacey (the artistic director of the Old Vic).

GB Shaw was interesting man. A prolific writer, founding member of the Fabian society and London School of Economics he abhorred formal education and held an animosity toward schools and teachers, saying, "Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parents.”. I wonder what my kids would make of that quote?