
1960s Kodachrome photos of London’s East End - Slansitartop
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pictures-london-east-end-1960s-color
======
lmm
Cripes, that introduction is laying it on a bit thick:

> “…the photographer knows he’s getting the last shots of those wharves,
> steamers and warehouses before they are replaced by imagined hotels and
> marinas, the proto-blueprint for the new world dominated by leisure, tourism
> and heritage replicas. These post-dockland utopias are soon to be upgraded
> into big business steel and glass, craven monuments of late capitalism. The
> future was in a distant haze, just around the corner.”

These photos should remind us that East London has always been changing, that
progress is real but slow. Those "craven monuments of late capitalism" are
every bit as utopian in their own way as the blocks being built in these
photos, and in my experience much nicer places to live and work.

~~~
andybak
And large parts of those photos can be seen still today.

Biggest differences I noticed:

1\. You won't see those cars obviously 2\. Shop fronts have changed styles.
More modern branding. More large chains

But if anything I was surprised by familiar they look. I grew up in London in
the 70s and 80s and I remember scenes almost identical to those. And even
still you can find large parts of London that resemble that.

~~~
lambdadmitry
Even the very same street on one of the photos:
[https://goo.gl/maps/G3HRFX3SAgQ2](https://goo.gl/maps/G3HRFX3SAgQ2)

------
eesmith

      Kodachrome
      They give us those nice bright colors
      They give us the greens of summers
      Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
      I got a Nikon camera
      I love to take a photograph
      So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
    

Those are some nice pictures. I lack the geographical and cultural context to
really appreciate them though. What I know about the East End comes third-
hand.

~~~
DamonHD
Well, working in the City and the Wharf and a bit out onto the Isle of Dogs
over the last ~15Y I think that I recognise some of those places at little!
Goodness!

~~~
Jaruzel
A 'then and now' side by side would a nice update to this set, if someone had
the time to do it.

~~~
chanandler_bong
Not specifically 'then and now', but Chris Dorley-Brown has some great modern
shots of the area:

[http://chris3.500px.com/](http://chris3.500px.com/)

[http://www.modrex.com/](http://www.modrex.com/)

~~~
ChrisArchitect
lovely people details in those photos - always people going this way and that
but then there's a guy carrying a kids bike, a guy riding a lawnmower etc....

------
isfield
The Stifford estate photo is my favorite. The 'new' brutalist architecture of
social housing marching in over the old pre war landscape. It's hard to
imagine the utopia it was supposed to represent. Roll forwards 20 years those
sorts of buildings represented drugs crime and poverty.

~~~
jdietrich
Brutalist developments in London are weirdly polarised. Either they've been
torn down because of chronic social problems like the Heygate estate, or
they're Grade II listed and massively desirable like Trellick Tower, the
Barbican or Rowley Way.

~~~
KaiserPro
The Heygate estate is an interesting point. I used to live in the foursquares,
a smaller equally deprived estate just to the east.

At the time of the "regeneration" (2000s) it was a toss up between a number of
estates and the heygate. However because of its size and location the heygate
was chosen

My estate was turned around, and I was lucky enough to live _in_ the estate,
not on it. I got to know some of the original residents(and still do).

There are two important things to note, Council housing is almost exclusively
of a very high standard (bigger than new builds by ~10+ sqm) Compared to the
slums described so vividly in the road to wigan pier, a paradise. (running
toilets, windows, heating plaster, enough bedrooms for each kid)

Until a rule change in the late 70s, you had to have a job to be eligible for
council housing. There were (and still are, more or less) residents
associations that look after the running of the estate. Caretakers lived on
site, towers had 24 hour concierges, and ne'dowells were evicted.

However, that was all taken away in favour of dumping problem families,
outsourcing cleaning and upkeep (In some cases, one cleaner 2 hours a day
costs something line £80k annually.)

In short, there is nothing wrong with the estate fabric (of the surviving
estates) but how they are looked after, and who lives there. Grenfell is a
shining example, a solid block that was subdivided and halfarsedly put in new
gas mains.

~~~
tnorthcutt
_My estate was turned around, and I was lucky enough to live in the estate,
not on it. I got to know some of the original residents(and still do)._

Asking as someone mostly ignorant of estate housing: what does this
distinction imply/represent?

~~~
KaiserPro
By living _in_ the estate, I mean I turned up to the residents meetings, and
participated in the governence of the estate. Council housing has been sold
off, and represents a cheap, profitable rental income. Because of the high
rate of change, they are socially and funtionally seperated from either
leaseholders or council tenants.

When it came to regeneration/improvements, we were the one consulted, not the
private renters.

If I missunderstood your question, here is some waffle:

An estate is a logical collection of dwellings, normally flats (but can be
houses) that were commissioned and built by local governement for the express
purpose of housing the employed working classes.

for example my estate was made up of four blocks of about 180 flats. Each
block encloses a shared garden, with childrens play equipment.

as to what they look like:

[https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/the-
brandon...](https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/the-brandon-
estate-southwark-part-two/)

------
foobar1962
Kodachrome is stable as long as it’s in darkness. Light fades them pretty
quickly.

Back in the day originals would be on Kodachrome, from which copies would be
made on Ektachrome for projection in slide displays or an inter-negative on
Kodacolor for enlarging.

------
UncleSlacky
There are a few additional photos in this article:
[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/feb/13...](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/feb/13/east-
end-in-colour-london-david-granick)

------
sizzzzlerz
I love looking at the street views with the little shops and taverns. Its an
interesting reminder of the times when there wasn't an Amazon or Costco or a
myriad number of cookie cutter bars and restaurants. Of course, these are the
places that drove them out of business for good, if not for better.

~~~
cm2187
In fact I find the most mundane pictures of street life to be the most
interesting for anything older than 30y old. But those are the pictures taken
today that people today would dismiss as uninteresting when it is really what
will amuse them the most in 30 years.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I wonder how accessible all the photos on Instagram and Twitter will be in 30
years' time.

------
things
I attempted to locate the photos in this set on streetview. Some were easier
than others.

In the same order:

Whitechapel Road
[https://www.google.com/maps/place//@51.5173129,-0.0668225,3a...](https://www.google.com/maps/place//@51.5173129,-0.0668225,3a,75y,17.4h,87.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m4!1s74ir4lgSyHqvhdEMTMXSkw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x48761ccb0a8b7f6d:0x9684fb5c0030a5b7!8m2!3d51.5175392!4d-0.0667101)

Spitalsfield Market
[https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5190196,-0.0773324,3a,75y,74....](https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5190196,-0.0773324,3a,75y,74.08h,65.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjMBZS1VjhIBUX4pXsBCiJw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

Belhaven Street (no longer exists, got as close as I could)
[https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5286117,-0.0380893,3a,75y,27....](https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5286117,-0.0380893,3a,75y,27.65h,96.46t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sCOIexeZKAYrKE8J_BZHGHw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i29)

Stifford Estate (demolished)
[https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5174684,-0.0497713,3a,75y,285...](https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5174684,-0.0497713,3a,75y,285.91h,86.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdtjHoFQt5HHuo4ufaEBfJg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

Mile End Road
[https://www.google.be/maps/place/@51.5243606,-0.0367707,3a,7...](https://www.google.be/maps/place/@51.5243606,-0.0367707,3a,75y,6.77h,93.51t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sy2m8kAtBnzHdEU2Ge9Zb4g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x48761d2fee6bccd7:0x3a3ec53002ba66a3!8m2!3d51.5245299!4d-0.0367119)

Three Colt Street (difficult to get the exact location so got one with visible
landmark)
[https://www.google.be/maps/place/@51.5096904,-0.03012,3a,75y...](https://www.google.be/maps/place/@51.5096904,-0.03012,3a,75y,359.02h,95.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3wPvNbqhxNhzS-9avdcFOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x487602cc1cb39bb5:0xe66febb5f8bac6bf!8m2!3d51.5099132!4d-0.0302586)

Watney Market (massively changed but pointing in the right direction over the
area)
[https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5128337,-0.0581398,3a,75y,348...](https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5128337,-0.0581398,3a,75y,348.49h,87.44t/data=!3m10!1e1!3m8!1su7WW-D6EeZqjzUOf4U3h9A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Du7WW-D6EeZqjzUOf4U3h9A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D306.88754%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i29)

Gardiner’s Corner (nothing left, the department store burnt down in the
seventies)
[https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5151995,-0.0716539,3a,75y,289...](https://www.google.be/maps/@51.5151995,-0.0716539,3a,75y,289.03h,91.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3Z9Nm_G3Cm27V2cTNR-
Tzg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

~~~
mattlondon
Brushfield Street is pretty cool - you can see the painted sign on one of the
buildings is still there in street view.

Its the first picture on the Guardian's version of this:
[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/feb/13...](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/feb/13/east-
end-in-colour-london-david-granick)

[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5190638,-0.0760875,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5190638,-0.0760875,3a,75y,228.25h,91.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_mDz1fKdGJXgKiDnpECSdA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

~~~
bloat
If you look round the lorry in the street view, you can see the Donovan
Brothers sign is still there (behind the scaffolding unfortunately!)

~~~
things
If you dial back the date in streetview, you can see it more clearly.

[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5189372,-0.0763029,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5189372,-0.0763029,3a,75y,229.16h,85.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sn-p6x3xJ8PZVV4qgkJFVpQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

------
joelhaasnoot
This is amazing. Having watched "Call the Midwife" and stayed in the docklands
area in London, this puts into perspective some of the 'scars' in the
landscape you can still see today

------
perardi
I am absolutely a sucker for the look of Kodachrome, and I'm glad I managed to
shoot one roll before processing of it ended.

The processing itself is rather convoluted and interesting:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-14_process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-14_process)

------
eveningcoffee
Ratio between image sides is 1.25 meaning that it is likely the scans came
either from 6x7 (cm) medium format slides or more probably from the 4x5 (inch,
or larger) large format slides.

~~~
gunzel
Unlikely, Kodachrome larger than 35mm was dead after the mid 1950's, there was
a brief revival of medium format in the 1980's, but it didn't last long. I
suspect the format might be more driven by the format of the book.

~~~
eveningcoffee
So more likely crops made from 35mm slides?

------
stupidcar
These are lovely. The photographer who found and digitised these also has some
great shots in a similar vein:
[https://chris3.500px.com/](https://chris3.500px.com/)

~~~
scraplab
And his Instagram account:
[https://www.instagram.com/chrisdorleybrown](https://www.instagram.com/chrisdorleybrown)

------
abritinthebay
Does anyone with a photographic bent know what the modern equivalent of
Kodachrome would be? (Stable, archival quality, rich color reproduction, and
digitizes well)

~~~
iamatworknow
In terms of current film stock I've shot Kodak Ektar probably comes the
closest to the look of Kodachrome, but it's still pretty far off. I think the
processing technique for Kodachrome is what really made it unique, and since
that's gone nothing else quite compares.

~~~
Bokanovsky
I was just going to reply suggesting Kodak Ektar, but you beat me to it. -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ektar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ektar)

There are massive discussions with film photographers about the different
kinds of films and their colour profiles, characteristics and so on.

~~~
iamatworknow
While I do like the look of Ektar, when I shoot color film I personally lean
more toward slide films like Velvia, but that's a whole different beast. I
just love that punchy contrast.

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Slansitartop
What's with the submission date? It currently says I submitted this 12 hours
ago, but that's not true at all: I submitted it closer to 24 hours ago.

