Broadway Squat

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 1st Jan 2006 - 17:46 GMT

Sorry to hear about your mad cafe going kaput. At least with all the attention they will be properly shamed.

jack: 1st Jan 2006 - 17:49 GMT

yes, sadly this is called greed and progress. the old, interesting, quiet places are changing in to mega buck establishments. money or rather love of money is the root of all evil. when you cannot find a reason for change look to the money wrinkle.

elaine: 1st Jan 2006 - 18:16 GMT

what is irritating, is that a lot of the regeneration is beneficial, but the greed has invisible costs, like when you build tons of housing and don't add any new doctors for instance...

also what is irritating is the french (i ask you!) cafe that moved in to the little georgia does shit coffee!
it's not the same, and there is nowhere else anywhere near as nice. and i used to look forward to seeing what outfit the proprietress might have on

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 1st Jan 2006 - 18:44 GMT

I have a friend whose dress sense is amazing. One day Kron be in an Austrian Durndal (like in the Sound of Music) and the next she'll be wearing vintage 70's polyester with grapes and fake flowers in her hair. She declared herself an independant nation in 1998 and has been striken with internal conflicts ever since. Best of all, she works in a law office. Every time I see her it's a magical trip into insanity, in the best way possible.
mykronesia.com (and I'm working to update her web page, so it's currently not my fault)

elaine: 1st Jan 2006 - 19:45 GMT

fab.
she looks great.
the woman in li'l georgia has a pretty consistent look, and a haughty wan face. she always put on a good show, visually. i guess other people actually spoke to her, but beyond saying hello and goodbye i never liked to speak to her because i liked her being a bit haughty, and what if i got to know her and she was, well, ordinary ? so i never did.

Peter: 1st Jan 2006 - 20:59 GMT

wow- this is a great sort of entry- a fascinating photo with a story behind it that really catches you.

please keep us posted as to the outcome of this... as a new yorker, i can surely empathize with development/greed... see the article about the atlantic yards in my hood :(

elaine: 1st Jan 2006 - 21:20 GMT

more info here 34broadwaymarket.omweb.org/modules/wakka/HomePage

anon (p54BD0122.dip0.t-ipconnect.de): 1st Jan 2006 - 23:23 GMT

habby_neW_YeaR_
ram51

Jamie: 2nd Jan 2006 - 14:50 GMT

Is it modern and funky to_use_underscores_instead of spaces, or is your spacebar just broken? I think though elaine, if u had spoken to her at length you would have come to learn that her name was sharon and that she grew up on a council estate in romford. Probably.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 2nd Jan 2006 - 16:10 GMT

Even Sharons have a good story in them! Elaine, I really hope you get your neighbourhood cafe back. Community is so important, and it can be hard to find in a city. I love that I know a bunch of people on my block. I need the crazy lady at the corner shop. And I'd totally miss the laundry women who lose my shirts, but give me other people's thongs. We all need a niche. And it's better if your niche serves tea.

jeeff: 2nd Jan 2006 - 22:58 GMT

great entry. sad story. i wish we could divorce urban regeneration and gentrification. why does new development have to be bland and anti-social?

elaine: 3rd Jan 2006 - 13:02 GMT

exactly, jamie. hence i never spoke to her much - i just couldn't bear her to be anything less than utterly astounding

elaine: 3rd Jan 2006 - 13:04 GMT

cat, it's not that i don't like a sharon - it's just that i liked the idea that she should be exactly as she looks. she would have to be aristocratic, bohemian, intellectual and witty, and very very foreign. bit much to ask of anyone, i thought

elaine: 3rd Jan 2006 - 13:15 GMT

well, the middle class bohemianisation of broadway market is not all totally evil, not like some other places i could mention - like spitalfields market www.smut.org.uk/ frinstance, which was 'dark' when i first moved to the east end about 13 years ago. it had been a commercial fruit and veg market, and had upped sticks to some out of town modern place for their commerce, leaving this beautiful old market empty. over the same time as hoxton became home of the hip (just up the road) it slowly regenerated, starting off as an organic fruit and veg thing, then a few others joined in, and over time the space was heaving, and was far cooler than camden and portobello, and just as popular. bad news is, it's right next to liverpools st station and on the edge of the city (our wall st) and now they have demolished a lot of it, and are building a generic mall there instead.

makes me weep

bah and humbug

hahaha: 8th Jan 2006 - 14:20 GMT

east london, hmmmm.... what a sad change, i remember brick lane in the late 80's !!!! but know...