jugs | >Re-PHOTO

Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise – 1992

Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise: More colour pictures from my walk in Islington which although are in my January 1993 folder I now find were actually taken in mid-December 1992, but were only processed in the following month. The previous post which was from the beginning of my walk was wrongly titled Islington in Colour – January 1993.

It seemed more about departure than arrival for this closed shop, which was at 130 New North Road on the corner with Poole St. At left you can see the fairly distinctive bridge over the Regent’s Canal still there though this shop and the other buildings between it and the canal was replaced not long after with a large block whose ground floor is occupied by a Co-op food store.

My guess was that Arrival had been a café. I liked the faded canopies with a sun motive and the columns supported on square blocks, I think painted on or tiled over the brickwork as well as the graffiti tags and fly posting for the Dalston Lane Car Boot and Brixton Academy. The disused shop had been firmly sealed against squatters.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-32 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-32*

The Business Design Centre opened in October 1986, built in the Grade II listed Royal Agricultural Hall built in 1861-2 to the design by Frederick Peck for agricultural shows and continued in use for these until 1938, also hosting other events such as the he Royal Tournament and the first Crufts dog show.

During the Second World War it was taken over by the military and after the Mount Pleasant sorting office was devastated by bombing became a Royal Mail parcels depot. After they moved out the large site remained empty until bought and converted by Sam Morris to an exhibition venue, conference centre, showrooms and offices as the Business Design Centre which opened in October 1986.

Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-34 — *Business Design Centre, Upper St, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-34*

I imagine that this sculpture showing two Sumo wrestlers holding up a shipping container was there in conjunction with an event taking place in the Business Design Centre and I have no idea how long it remained in place. Unfortunately none of the handful of frames I made in black and white and colour include enough of the board with text about the event.

The shipping container appears to be an actual used container, with clear signs of wear – and if it was a standard 20ft container will have weighed around 2,300kg – quite a weight for two wrestlers.

Alfredo’s is still there, though no longer a snack bar but a café and restaurant renamed Alfredo’s 1920. I photographed it again in 1986 and here is what I wrote when I posted this on Facebook:

“Established 1920 and with a fine frontage. Details of this still remain in its current use by bistro Meat People, although the central Alfredo’s Snack Bar is long gone and the panel it was on is now plain and rectangular and there is no drop shadow on the plain name MEAT PEOPLE. But at the top of the white vertical panel it now states ‘FORMERLY ALFREDO’S’ and at it’s base ‘ESTABLISHED 1920’ and has some of the same text as before, with the rest altered to reflect the current usage.”

Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-25 — *Essex Rd, Islington, 1993, 92c01-01-25*

I’m unsure as to how I would categorise the shop with this window display, but I think it was probably run by an ex-boxer. I can’t read the small print under the photograph at top left but I think it is the American boxer Jack Dempsey, (1895 – 1983), “nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926.” He was best known for the two controversial fights he had with Gene Turney in 1926 and 1927, both of which he lost.

In the window along with the boxing pictures are WD-40, furniture and leather creams, brushes, a hammer, jugs, superglue, a rabbit and more.

Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1993, 93c01-01-11 — *Harley Davidson Power, Islington, 1992, 93c01-01-11*

I now have no idea where this angry looking snake with the white strip with the messages ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Power’ was, or why, though perhaps it was a motorcycle dealer.

Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-72 — *Sunflower on Wall, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-72*

For something very different I photographed this painted sunflower next to a door on the wall, presumable leading to two flats, though the number on it, ‘1 B C’ is rather odd. From the parking notice it would seem to be on a fairly busy road. There are two blind windows, probably from when the building was converted to flats.

The picture is very noisy, and although the plant has a shadow, this is painted and the plant pot floats oddly in space. I think the noise is because I under-exposed the negative, though it may also reflect a processing fault. It was taken on a dull December day and perhaps this particular corner was duller than most.

This building is still there but now residential and the metal shutter had been replaced by what looks like wood. The building is in the gap between two semi-detached houses on the street.

Angel's Paradise, Islington, 1993, 93c01-02-76 — *Angel’s Paradise, Islington, 1992, 93c01-02-76*

The rather strange colours in this picture are perhaps appropriate, though I think due to a processing fault. There was a legendary night club on Parkfield Street which was demolished in the late 1990s for the Angel Central shopping complex, but I’m unsure whether this was that venue or another perhaps earlier location – or a completely different Paradise. I’ve been unable to find other pictures which clearly show the Paradise club.

Here is my quick attempt to improve the colour – after having cropped the image to remove a damaged area at left.

More from December 1992 in Islington to come.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Tamil Festival & Brentford Walk – 2010

Tamil Festival & Brentford Walk: On the morning of Sunday 8th August 2010 I photographed the annual Chariot Festival from the Tamil Hindu Temple in West Ealing and in the afternoon went for a walk in Brentford.

Tamil Chariot Festival in West Ealing

Tamil Festival & Brentford Walk - 2010 — *Men wait with coconuts outside the temple, ready to roll along the road*

The annual Chariot Festival from the Tamil Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman (Hindu) Temple at a former chapel in West Ealing comes close to the end of their Mahotsavam festival which lasts for around four weeks each year.

In it a represtentation of the Temple’s main goddess Amman (Tamil for Mother) and priests are dragged around the streets on a large chariot pulled by men and women on long ropes.

Behind them around 50 men naked from the waist up laid down on the street holding a coconut in front of them and rolled their bodies along the street for the half mile or so of the route. Men and women came and scattered Vibuthi (Holy Ash) on them. Following them were women who prostrated themselves to the ground every few steps.

From the Temple in Chapel Street the procession, led by a smaller chariot made its way along Uxbridge Road in the bus lane. People crowded around the chariot holding bowls of coconut and fruits (archanai thattu) as ritual offerings (puja) to be blessed by a temple priest.

To photograph the event I had – like those taking part – removed my shoes and my feet were soon soaked in coconut milk from the many cut open or smashed on the ground. Coconuts play an important role in many Hindu rituals and are a major product of the Tamil areas of India and Sri Lanka and many sacks of them were broken in the festival.

Further back in the procession were male dancers, some with elaborate tiered towers above their heads. Others had heavy wooden frames decorated with flowers and peacock feathers, representing the weight of the sins of the world that the gods have to carry; they had ropes attached to their backs by a handful of large hooks through their flesh. They turned and twisted violently as if to escape from the ropes, held by another man.

Women walked with flaming bowls of camphor which burns with a fairly cool flame and leaves no residue with others behind them carrying jugs on their heads.

The festival raises funds for various educational projects for children that the temple sponsors in northern Sri Lanka and other charitable projects in Sri Lanka devastated by the civil war and had sent more then £1.3 million in the previous ten years.

I left the festival, dried my feet as best I could, put on my socks and shoes and caught at bus to Brentford.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Tamil Chariot Festival in Ealing.

Brentford

*Overflow from the canal takes the River Brent to the Thames*

When I was young and lived not far away Brentford was an important canal port, the junction of the Grand Union Canal (also here the River Brent) with the River Thames. The docks by the Thames were now a private housing estate and by 2010 almost all of the British Waterways sheds had gone, replaced by blocks of flats.

*Past the recent moorings were the last remaining loading sheds*

But the canal and the locks are still there, along with the small docks and some of the boat repair businesses. Little is visible from the High Street except where it goes over the canal, but despite extensive redevelopment in the 1990s – and more going on now – it remains an interesting area to walk around.

*From the footbridge over the Brentford gauging locks*

I’d photographed a little in the area back before much redevelopment took place, and more extensively in the 1990s. On line you can see some pictures from 2003 when some of the more recent development was starting. And I’ve returned a few times since this walk in 2010 and you can find more pictures if you search on My London Diary.

*Thames Lock, connecting the canal system to the River Thames*

As I noted in 2010, “Much of the walk that I took is now a part of the Thames Path, though it isn’t always well signposted, and some of the more interesting parts are a short detour away.”

More pictures from my short walk around Brentford on My London Diary.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Tamil Chariot Festival – Ealing 2010

Tamil Chariot Festival: Last Sunday I briefly photographed for another time London’s best-known chariot festival, the Hare Krishna Rathayatra festival where devotees pull a giant chariot from Hyde Park to a festival in Trafalgar Square. But this is only one of a number of Hindu chariot festivals in London and on 8th August 2010 I took off my shoes to photograph a rather different event in West Ealing. Rather than describe it again I’ll reprint here what I wrote on My London Diary in 2010, though there are many more pictures attached to the original.

Tamil Chariot Festival in Ealing – West Ealing, London. 8 August 2010

Several thousands attended the annual Chariot Festival from the Tamil Hindu Temple in West Ealing this morning, a colourful event in the streets around the temple. The celebration at the Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman (Hindu) Temple in a former chapel in West Ealing comes close to the end of their Mahotsavam festival which lasts for around four weeks each year.

A representation of the temple’s main goddess (Amman is Tamil for Mother) is placed on a chariot with temple priests and dragged around the streets by men and women pulling on large ropes.

Behind the chariot come around 50 men, naked from the waist up and each holding a coconut in front of them with both hands. They roll their bodies along the street for the half mile or so of the route, and behind them are a group of women who prostrate themselves to the ground every few steps. Men and women come and scatter Vibuthi (Holy Ash) on them.

The chariot, preceded by a smaller chariot, was dragged up Chapel Street to the main Uxbridge Road, where the bus lane was reserved for the procession. Once it had moved off the main road, people crowded up to the chariot, holding bowls of coconut and fruits (archanai thattu) as ritual offerings (puja) to be blessed by a temple priest.

Coconuts are a major product of the Tamil areas of India and Sri Lanka and play an important part in many Hindu rituals. Many are cut open or smashed on the ground during the festival, and at times my feet (like those taking part I was not wearing shoes) were soaked in coconut milk.

As I left the festival when the procession had travelled around halfway along its route I passed a group of men bringing more sacks of them to be broken.

A few yards down the road was the rest of the procession, including a number of women with flaming bowls of camphor (it burns with a fairly cool flame and leaves no residue – but at least one steward was standing by with a dry powder fire extinguisher in case flames got out of hand) and a larger group of women carrying jugs on their head.

In front of them were a number of male dancers, some with elaborate tiered towers above their heads. Others had heavy wooden frames decorated with flowers and peacock feathers, representing the weight of the sins of the world that the gods have to carry; they were held by ropes by another man, and the ropes were attached to their backs by a handful of large hooks through their flesh, many turned and twisted violently as if to escape.

The proceeds from the sale in the temple of the ‘archani thattu‘ on the festival day go to the various educational projects for children that the temple sponsors in northern Sri Lanka, devastated by the civil war there. The temple also supports other charitable projects in Sri Lanka, and in the last ten years has sent more the £1.3 million to them.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Tamil Chariot Festival in Ealing.