The East End Kids

A NEIGHBORHOOD BLOSSOMS IN LONDON

Hoxton Square, the nexus of London's Young British Artist scene, the site of Jay Jopling's seminal White Cube2 gallery, and the latest neighborhood to be gentrified in London's East End, is quite literally teeming with electricity. Not only do local hot spots include the Light (a bar built in an old electrical substation) and Electricity Showrooms, but this year a former electrical-power station for the East London railway is being converted into luxury apartments. Now called Gainsborough Studios, the station has served as a movie set for both Alfred Hitchcock and Guy Ritchie, a stage for Ralph Fiennes's Coriolanus and Richard II, and a runway for Alexander McQueen. For all its buzz, Hoxton and its neighbor Shoreditch differ from the usual paradigm of urban renewal (artists move in; prices rise; artists move out) in that these artists—at least those who can afford it (Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili, Jake and Dinos Chapman, and Rachel Whiteread, as well as East End pioneers Gilbert & George)—are staying. While some of the old haunts have given way to upscale newcomers such as the Vibe Bar, Ninety Three Feet East, Home, and Fabric, some staples—Spitalfields Market and the Bricklayers Arms pub, for example—remain. The East End's latest arrival? The Prince of Wales (his School of Architecture just moved into an old fur factory). There goes the neighborhood.

ANNE FULENWIDER