The Cally

 

This is Caledonian Road in north London, more commonly known as The Cally. It's been called the Cally for ever, but they felt it necessary to write it in big bold letters on the railway bridge in case people forgot. The Cally is not the area of London where I am from (I grew up in Burnt Oak), but this is where my Dad is from. He lived up the road, near the Nag's Head in Holloway. When I was a kid my dad would sometimes drive me over here when he had to visit his mates or one of my uncles, who still live locally. I was always very nervous of this area as a child, a rough place (and my own Burnt Oak was pretty rough) of villains' pubs, broken windows and dangerous alleys. It's still pretty tough, but I can appreciate the character in it now I'm grown up. Actually, I think this would be a very interesting place for a sketchcrawl (though I'd still keep my eyes open).

  

I sketched this area while I was back in London in June. One building I had to sketch was HM Prison Pentonville, the 'big house', which casts a imposing and gloomy shadow over Caledonian Road. Pentonville was opened in 1842 and has had many famous residents, such as Éamon de Valera, Dr. Crippen, John Christie (and Timothy Evans who was wrongly hanged for Christie's crimes), Oscar Wilde, and, um, George Michael. I sketched it from a cafe across the road called, appropriately, the Breakout. Condemned inmates were executed here at Pentonville until 1961. Prisons are horrible places.

  

From the Jail House to the Free House...this is actually at the back of the Breakout cafe, which looks like it was built in the space of a closed-down pub. This is part of the old pub signage around the corner from the Cally on Blundell Street. My dad actually went to school on this street, though the school is long gone. Funny that he grew up round the Cally, while I ended up in Cali(fornia). 

The Cally