When I got off the tube station, I had no idea of what to expect from Shoreditch.
During the ride into the neighborhood, I saw buildings and roofs littered with graffiti and bright colors. I knew it was going to be a one-of-a-kind place.
There’s no place on Earth quite like Shoreditch. It’s got a specific flavour and style, but it’s also so unpredictable and different. It’s easy to find twenty different ethnic restaurants, a vintage clothes store, and a quirky handmade store just by walking down one street.
I got lunch at Boxpark, an original structure. I was baffled to see how Londoners could be so thoughtful and careful to reuse their resources by turning old cars into shops and food joints.
Don’t forget the street fashion. The neighborhood is a melting pot of styles, ethnicities, and beliefs. Its inhabitants live so differently from each other but so harmoniously as well. Punks, hipsters, scenesters, preps, artists, musicians, bankers, and techies all peacefully coexist within the same area.
As I wandered down Brick Lane, I weaved throughout the vintage shops and boutiques. It was like seeing the paints an artist uses to make beautiful scenes. That is, the funky denim shirts and mountains of bangles found in these places are put together to create a street style that only Shoreditch can harbor.
I’ve never seen that way of life so concentrated into one place in America. The people of Shoreditch all have a specifically unique je-ne-sais-quoi. Actually,
Londoners as a whole are so well-dressed. It’s not like that across the pond.
I mean, it is, but it would be a lot better if t-shirts, sweatpants and running shoes weren’t staples of the casual American wardrobe.
I was so struck by how almost every paintable surface is made into a work of art. The bright originality and humor of the street art had transformed a once
gritty neighborhood into a marketplace for cultural exchange. I’m still searching for an original Bansky. It’s my goal to find one by the end of my time here.I spent an entire day wandering the streets and hidden spots in Shoreditch and getting a feel for my new home for the next month. I could have spent more.
I think I’m in for a wild ride.
