Exploring East London (McGouran)
By Ronan McGouran.
Today, March 27th, I decided to go to the area of Whitechapel to explore the neighborhood and complete the assignment of mapping the area for our class. I am frequently nearby Whitechapel in the area of Bethnal Green, or in Brick Lane checking out the graffiti art and food and clothing shops. I really enjoy being in East London, one of the main reasons for wanting to study in London was to be around the diversity that I have living in NYC. Walking around Whitechapel, I noticed lots of graffiti, busy streets, Islamic stores, and South Asian food places such as Indian food. This reminded me of home, especially Jackson Heights in Queens where I would get Indian food with my mom often before the pandemic. This also reminded me if my own neighborhood in Brooklyn where there is multicultural food and religions, with a mosque directly across the street from my apartment building. Whitechapel is such a distinct and unique neighborhood and as I walked around, I almost forgot about the Jack the Ripper cases that used to define the neighborhood. Jack the Ripper and the individuals that were murdered in the area of Whitechapel seemed to be what defined the neighborhood if you haven’t visited or lived there, creating horrific tragedies as a sense of entertainment to the public. The cases seem forgettable because it gives this representation that the Whitechapel area is “haunted” but as I explore the area there is a very positive and uplifting environment and sense of community that isn’t described when reading or hearing about the Jack the Ripper cases and the newspapers and media that followed. It is very interesting how a neighborhood this diverse in other cultures besides English can be so close to the city center. I tend to find in the cities that I have been to that the more diverse areas are furthest from the city center but this is not the case. I ended up walking from Whitechapel to the Moorgate station on the Northern tube line and it is a completely different environment of the people there and the architecture of the buildings. As I progressed through the walk to the station, I started seeing a lot more modern buildings that seemed like it was mostly a working environment and everyone was either a tourist and on their way to work. Having such a diverse neighborhood with a sense of community shows how long this community has been there, before the city expanded over the last hundred years.
