Now if you aren’t familiar with the film Notting Hill you may not be aware the blue door and are wondering why are all these people getting their picture taken in front of it and why am I taking pictures of them taking pictures of themselves? These are good questions and ones I have often asked myself during this ongoing photographic project which has spanned a decade or more.
The blue door is basically where Hugh Grant lived in the movie and since then it has become a major photo opp for tourists visiting the area. But not just a few, like a shit ton. It is very rare to go past the door, especially in peak summer season, and not see someone getting their picture taken in front of it. I am actually staggered by how many people want to do this. I really can’t get my head around the fact that this film is still that popular.
Richard Curtis said he wrote the film as a love letter to the area he lived in but by making it the title he kinda ruined it because after it came out this neighbourhood was propelled onto the international map and suddenly rents went through the roof and a lot of people who had lived here contentedly until then were then forced out. I was living in a shared 3bed house with garden 500m from Portobello and paying £85 a week in rent at the time (I know it seems almost impossible by today’s insane prices and was booted out almost immediately after film’s release so they could sell it.
Curtis also then sold his property for 1.5 million squid and then fucked off somewhere else. Doesn’t sound like the actions of a man in love with the area does it? I mean don’t get me wrong the gentrification of this area would always have happened but it accelerated it with a turbo boost transforming it virtually overnight.
So understandably there was some local animosity and resentment towards the movie and the he tourist traffic it generated. The blue door was even graffitied over a few years back, undoubtedly by a disgruntled local who clearly wanted to tarnish the film location and those that flocked to it . This incident even made the news (daily mail obvs) and headline read “Notting Hill fans fuming at shocking condition of door” (musta been a low news week)
I actually thought the “tourists suck” graf scrawled on the pillar pretty funny as the tourists have to get their picture taken next to it, although some attempt to cover it up, clearly not wishing to suck.
I mean I get why locals are fed up with the tourist trade as it has ramped up prices across the board and ushered in a relentless amount of coffee shops, ice cream parlours and 90% of all establishments and market stalls now cater towards the tourists. I mean, its not been all bad for the area, it has brought in a gi-normous amount of business but its character and inhabitants, the two things that made it what it was, have been somewhat squeezed out.
And so back to the blue door..these are just a few of the photos I have taken over the years..I’ve pretty much got enough to fill a book..is is a book anyone wants is a different question. Why am I so drawn to it? I guess there is something about the endless repetition with slight variation that gravitates me towards it..I think there is also something about the glee on the faces of the fans..its like they feel one step closer to the film they revere and adore…and I guess the way the movie made them feel is present in their faces and that is worth capturing. And it probably also gives them a thrill to think Hollywood stars had stood exactly where they had. The essence of Julia Robert’s clearly still lingers.
And just for the record I don’t loiter outside the door..I do have better things to do..these were all taken on flybys or while waiting for Mrs B to get a coffee from the starbucks on the corner…gotta every moment count and all that..
