London, England in the ’90s

 London in the 90s was a fun-filled, Godforsaken place for the displaced.

The highlights of life in London could be summed up in a few yearly social events and popular landmarks. Namely: The London Notting Hill Carnival, New Year’s Eve in Trafalgar Square, Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th, and one of the best gathering spots in Camden Town, the noteworthy ‘Compendium Books’ store. Founded by Diana Gravill, (a direct descendant of Captain John Gravill of the Diana Whaler, and my late mother-in-law), and Nicholas Rochford, Compendium Books was a bookshop frequented by everyone and anyone, from celebrities to hippies. In an era without the internet and the technology that accompanies it, Compendium thrived.

Aurora Mizutani’s late uncle Solomon in Camden town, London, 2007

The London Notting Hill Carnival, a location featured in the Hollywood blockbuster movie ‘Notting Hill’, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, is a yearly phenomenon worth mentioning. Attended by hundreds of thousands of people from different walks of life Notting Hill Carnival was “the place to be seen”. During the 90s the Notting Hill Carnival was nothing short of a peasant’s colourful, music-fuelled promenade in the heart of London. The Notting Hill Carnival is not however an event to be enjoyed alone. On the contrary, it is highly recommended that the Notting Hill Carnival not unlike Glastonbury be enjoyed with friends or siblings.

Aurora Mizutani with younger sister at the Notting Hill Carnival, London, year 2000

Notting Hill Carnival is perhaps one of the only functions where you can expect to find a police officer dancing along to the music with the crowds. The Notting Hill Carnival movement coincided with the advent of Loaded Magazine, a racy publication that epitomized the vibrant London lifestyle of the 90s.

Aurora Mizutani (Lola Dupe) in the 1996 and 1997 issues of Loaded Magazine, London.

Many of us would join the Notting Hill Carnival proceedings with the sole aim of being spotted by talent scouts. I am bound to admit to having appeared in the 1996 and 1997 issues of Loaded magazine at the height of its notoriety. The Notting Hill Carnival is a place of merriment and restrained debauchery, if only for a day.

‘Tremendous’ is the word that comes to mind when wanting to describe Guy Fawkes’s Night in London. The British in general see Guy Fawkes Night as a night for subversive anarchy, where mock vandalism may be enacted without fear of repercussion. That said, the true meaning of remembering and celebrating the execution of a would-be liberalist continues to elude me.

New Year’s Eve in London’s Trafalgar Square was almost discontinued sometime during the 90s, due to an apparent increase in fatal injuries. From my recollection of the celebratory happenings, one went to Trafalgar square on the night of New Year’s Eve at one’s own risk. The crowds would mercilessly cram against one another almost to the point of suffocation. Frequented mainly by young Italian emigrants, nondescript foreigners, hippies, drug addicts, and those homeless who happen to get caught up in the revelries against their will, New Year’s Eve in Trafalgar Square is an experience most intelligent people rarely feel the need to repeat.

Reminiscing about life in London in the 1990s is all very well, but such musings inevitably confront us with a question. When and why did it all change? Some might argue that the year 2000 was the turning point. With the advent of the internet becoming accessible to the masses, coupled with gadgets such as pagers, video games, cellular phones and later smartphones, people felt less inclined to risk life and limb in search of entertainment in crowded places brimming with strangers.

In the current post-pandemic era one thing is undeniable, 90s London was an unforgettable time bound to be erased from our memories with the death of what is now the elder generation.