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As a rule of thumb, if I like a community, it peaked ten years ago. By the time I lived in Silver Lake, Los Angeles’ fashion edge had long since moved to the other side of Dodger Stadium. When I worked in the Shaw District of Washington, the “scene”—that such a thing could exist in the majestic solemnity of the imperial capital—had moved to H Street.
In fact, as a lagging indicator, I only have two equals. One of them is the Australian cosmetics brand Aesop. When it enters a region, it often completes the transformation from avant-garde to pop. The other appears to be the Rolling Stones.in the title and promotion of their album Hackney DiamondOn the album, due out next week, the band pays homage to a London borough that decades ago became a hangout for the creative class.
Whether you see it as a paradise or a beachhead of the ruthless middle class, the transformation of Hackney and its fringes is as much an urban story as Brooklyn and Kreuzberg.
The lessons are also rich. First, infrastructure, while important, is not everything. In fact, it can have undesirable consequences. Perhaps a key fact about Hackney is that it’s not on the Tube. (Though its sleek elevated trains allow for weird Hitchcockian views at home.) If that were the case, and locals could traverse the city as they pleased, I doubt the borough could maintain its independent cinemas, Nightlife, urban farming or atmosphere. A little bit of separation forces a place to develop its own identity, like the Galapagos finches that inspired Darwin’s curiosity. No matter what estate agents say, London’s only “villages” are often outside the tube.
The same principle applies throughout the city. Los Angeles’s brilliance is inseparable from its most glaring flaw, which is a lack of geographical integration for mass transit. Neighborhoods there are forced to have their own ecosystems, and as a result they’re teeming with all kinds of curiosities: galleries in strip malls, vinyl bars above unpromising chain pizza parlors, restaurants off Interstate 10 n/naka restaurant.
Hackney’s rise (some would say decline) highlights something else. The relationship between Bohemia and capitalism is closer than either side admits. Note that the trendiest neighborhoods are often located near the financial district. Side businesses for high earners can be risky for creative people (chefs, artists). In other words, both cultures ultimately rely on a certain kind of individualism. Hackney is a Labor borough, home to entrepreneurial small farmers who would bring Mrs Thatcher to tears, whether in immigrant-run markets or star restaurants.
But perhaps the ultimate lesson of what’s happening in the E8 and its surrounding postcode areas is how difficult it is to bring about such change. The ethics of gentrification are often debated. Support it and you seem indifferent to the displacement of people. Fight it and you can transcend the sentimentality of poverty. What gets overlooked in the firefight is the technical question of how exactly it happens. Many troubled places are desperate to know.
Well, Hackney is not a viable template for most people. Despite being just a few miles from the heart of Europe’s global city, it’s also rich in physical assets: canals, Victorian bricks, stunning greenery. Integrated into this built environment is history, both glorious (Joseph Conrad recovered from a maritime illness here) and infamous (“Hackney Diamond” is outdated slang for broken glass, such as one that may have occurred after a robbery) Broken glass thrown at retail premises).
No place, no matter how desperate it is to better itself, can magically create such a physical or atmospheric legacy. That’s why, while the new developments cause anger and disgust in some, for me the feeling is more poignant. It’s about creating unrealistic hopes – hopes of “country” life, of café culture. A place must operate within its inherited boundaries.
I grew up in a suburb forgotten by gentrification, and I know it’s no one’s fault. The interwar housing there isn’t as coveted and the historical texture isn’t as fascinating. This is undoubtedly why I spend more nights and weekends in Hackney than anywhere else. Of course, the Bohemian front had long since moved south across the river. See you in ten years.
Send Janan an email to janan.ganesh@ft.com
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