A New View of London

In my ears, I kept hearing the nasty staccato chords of the Clash’s punk anthem, “London Calling.” That came out 20 years ago, the first time I went to London, the first time I went abroad. I was a rock critic for a newspaper, and London was the place to be.

I spent my days in record stores and declasse boutiques, and my nights in slam-dance bars and concerts hearing music that was as much about the sweat as it was about the songs.

London was still calling, but this time it wasn’t the Clash who beckoned (although lead singer Joe Strummer is playing with his new band, the Mescaleros, at a club there this month). Aside from a long layover two years ago, I hadn’t been back. So in late March I went to check out new art spaces and millennium-era diversions.

“What’s kept you away so long?” asked my gregarious cabby, Richard, as we blew through the tony Kensington neighborhood to my hotel, the May Fair Inter-Continental. I’d had other places to see; it’s a big world, after all, and a lot of places are more exotic, challenging and culturally stimulating. But after a while, I realized I missed London because it is one of the great cities of the world.

And getting a little bit greater. The millennium brought with it a fine excuse for gussying up the city, including high-profile projects such as the British Airways London Eye, the Millennium Dome, the new Jubilee Line subway service and the opening of more museums and art galleries than at any other time in recent history.

The Millennium Bridge, the Eye, the train and other developments make South Bank the city’s new hot spot. Attention was first refocused to the south with the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, about 200 yards from its original 16th century site. Rebuilding the Globe was the mission of actor Sam Wanamaker, who, 40 years ago, realized that the only remembrance of the theater was a plaque on a pub in the area.

T he new Globe opened in 1997 and presents performances between May and September. Just opened in February is the permanent Globe Exhibition, the largest in the world dedicated to Shakespeare and his workplace. Among the bits of history on display are hazelnut shells, shards of tavern mugs, and the skulls of mastiffs used in the bear-baiting contests that were considered entertainment in Shakespeare’s day. The exhibit, which helps re-create the context in which the plays were the thing, is augmented by a visit to the theater, where guides do a marvelous job painting a picture of the randy, opinionated Elizabethan theatergoing crowd.

Rising on the skyline to the west is entertainment of quite a different ilk. The London Eye is a Ferris wheel with glass-enclosed pods. The 30-minute ride (the wheel makes one slow rotation) affords spectacular views up and down the Thames. Each pod has a staff attendant who can answer questions. (A more structured, recorded commentary would be even more helpful.) The lines to get on the ride are long, and although tickets are sold for specific times, expect to wait at least half an hour.

Much of the buzz in London has focused on the $215-million Tate Modern, which opened Friday in Southwark, on the south side of the Thames. The Tate Modern has taken over the hulking brick Bankside Power Station, built in the ‘40s by British architect Giles Gilbert Scott (also responsible for the “red telephone box,” as our guide put it).

Among the pieces in the new galleries are major works by Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Duchamp, Gabo, Giacometti, Pollock, Rothko and Warhol, as well as British artists Bacon, Caro, Hockney, Moore and others.

The architects added a glass roof to the Tate building. The top-floor restaurant offers particularly spectacular views: You can look straight down to the new Millennium Bridge, connecting St. Paul’s Cathedral to the Tate and the Globe. (It’s the first new bridge across the Thames in London since the 19th century Tower Bridge.) To the west, down the new walking path along the Thames, is the London Eye; to the right is the horseshoe-shaped, thatch-roofed Globe Theatre next door. The upper restaurant is sleek, with black wood and an expensive feel. A more casual cafe on the first floor is accessible from the street.

O ther significant galleries are opening soon too. The new wing at the National Portrait Gallery opened earlier this month, adding 50% more exhibition and public space. The project was built on a former courtyard between the Portrait Gallery and the National Museum next door. The new area will be home to the museum’s Tudor Gallery, showing some paintings that are now often overlooked by visitors who flock to more contemporary images. From the entry, the towering new escalator will deposit visitors on the top floor and the Tudor Gallery, from which they can work their way down.

Another major addition to the museum will be an IT Gallery, allowing access to all 10,000 portraits in the museum’s primary collection and some of the 250,000 portraits in its photo and archive collection.

On May 26, the historic Somerset House will open new quarters for the Courtauld Gallery, offering a wonderful collection of Impressionist works, and the Gilbert Collection. The building was originally a palace, then reinvented as offices for the Royal Navy and other government offices by William Chambers. It is the largest and best-known building designed by Chambers, King George III’s architect, and offers some beautiful staircases and architectural detailing. About $76 million was invested to open 100,000 square feet of space for galleries, restaurants, cafes and shops.

In 1996, Arthur Gilbert, a real estate developer living in Los Angeles, called in his extensive decorative arts collection, on loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and surprised everyone by donating it back to his native London. The Gilbert Collection not only includes fabulous silver pieces but is also one of the most important groups of artworks ever to be given to Britain, totaling about $125 million. Many of the other works on display were donated by Samuel Courtauld, among them Manet’s haunting “Bar at the Folies-Bergere.”

In the center, a former parking area will be turned into a courtyard with fountains, sculpture and, in the evening, performances. The Courtauld also has an arrangement with the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and will begin displaying temporary exhibits from that museum, starting this autumn.

Another surprising addition to the museum scene is on the upper two levels of the Imperial War Museum. For the past four years, the museum has been working on an extensive new Holocaust exhibit. Through old photographs, artifacts from Jewish homes, and interviews with survivors who remember their childhood, it paints a compelling portrait of Jewish life in Europe before the war. The exhibit also sets the scene for the rise of anti-Semitism, Hitler and Nazism.

The museum taped interviews with hundreds of Holocaust survivors and has selected the stories of 11 to be highlighted in audio and video presentations.

No discussion of the new cultural scene would be complete without a mention of the Dome, London’s temporary version of Epcot. The focus of the Dome--if something with a 25-acre roof can be focused--is to explore the challenges and opportunities of the millennium. The contents were developed around who we are, what we do and where we live. The 14 exhibition “zones,” all sponsored by corporations, are highly interactive and educational. Another similarity to Epcot: the wait to get into various exhibits. It may not be quite as long, but it still can be trying, especially given some of the exhibits.

Unlike Disney, the Dome until recently appeared to be a financial failure. Attendance is picking up, but no one yet knows whether this will be remembered as a great endeavor of the human spirit or a large-scale entertainment debacle. Study the brochures before you hit the place, and pick out specific exhibits. Some, such as Games, are child-oriented. Others, such as Journeys, are more for older kids and adults.

The Body, with its huge human sculptures, offers a walk through various bodily functions, the most exciting of which is the heart attack. (I wanted to see the exhibit of millennium jewels, organized by De Beers and including a 203-carat pear-shaped diamond, but I ran out of time.) You’ll also want to check out the Millennium Show, a sort of Cirque du Soleil, acrobatic-fabulous props-spacey music kind of experience, with actors flying from the 150-foot-high roof and floating through the air, cool music by Peter Gabriel and lots of pyrotechnics.

I had more fun watching the faces of the children enjoying the spectacle than I did trying to follow the threads of story line. To see everything you’d probably need two days, but after one you would no doubt be blitzed, especially with several children in tow. You’ll want to see as much as possible, however, because the price of admission is about $31; luckily, family tickets are a much better buy, at $90 for a family of five.

If you’re not into crowds, the best part of the dome could be the way it looks, glowing from the inside, from a distance at night. If you aren’t willing to cough up $31 a person in such an already expensive place as London, you can always get some of your entertainment for free.

The street performers, or buskers, are still out in force--even under the “No Busking” signs--around Covent Garden. Though I saw more comedians, mimes and even opera singers this time round, I like to think that if I waited long enough I would eventually hear a guy with a generator-operated amp doing an angry version of “London Calling.”

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GUIDEBOOK

London Revisited

Getting there: Nonstop service from LAX to London is available on British Airways, American, United, Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, and direct service is available on TWA. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $688.

Where to stay: I stayed at the May Fair Inter-Continental on Stratton Street, which has spacious, comfortable rooms. Rates start at about $470 for a single and $1,535 for a suite. For information, telephone 011-44-20-7629-7777, fax 011-44-20-7629-1459, Internet https://www.interconti.com.

Another Inter-Continental, the Churchill, 30 Portman Square, tel. 011-44-20-7486-5800, fax 011-44-20-7486-1255, Internet https://www.interconti.com, has similar prices. The Lowndes, 21 Lowndes St., tel. 011-44-20-7823-1234, fax 011-44-7235-1154, Internet https://www.london.hyatt.com, is a four-star place with lots of comfort. Daily rates are $335, double, dropping to $285 weekends. Visitors to the Lowndes can also take advantage of the business center at the Hyatt Carlton Tower, its sister property right around the corner at 1 Cadogan Place, tel. 011-44-20-7235-1234, fax 011-44-20-7858-7085.

If you’re up for something homey, private and chichi, try Cliveden Town House, 26 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3 2RP; tel. 011-44-20-7730-6466, fax 011-44-20-7730-0236, U.S. toll-free (800) 747-4942 or fax (800) 747-0109, Internet https://www.clivedentownhouse.co.uk. Prices at the 35-room inn, between Chelsea and Knightsbridge, start at $230 for a single, going to suites for $590.

Where to eat: London has three Michelin three-star restaurants: Chez Nico at 90 Park Lane, local tel. 7409-1290; La Tante Claire, Berkeley Hotel on Wilton Place, local tel. 7823-2003; and the Oak Room, 21 Piccadilly, local tel. 7437-0202.

The big trend in dining in London is big restaurants. We visited Bluebird, a cavernous chrome and mirrored establishment at 350 King’s Road in Chelsea, local tel. 7559-1000, known for its fresh seafood.

Maison Novelli, 29 Clerkenwell Green, local tel. 7251-6606, offers the famous pig trotter stuffed “following the mood of the day.”

For dining with a view, check out the OXO Tower brasserie and restaurant, local tel. 7803- 3888. It serves Euro-Asian fare.

Pharmacy, 150 Notting Hill Gate, local tel. 7221-2442, is shaped like an aspirin, and one of the drinks is called “Cough Syrup.” The fare is updated comfort food.

For more information: The London Tourist Board and Convention Bureau, Glen House, Stag Place, Victoria, London SW1E 5LT, England; tel. 011-44-20-7932-2000, Internet https://www.londontown.com.

The British Tourist Authority, 551 Fifth Ave., Suite 701, New York, NY 10176-0799; tel. (800) GO-2-BRITAIN (462-2748), Internet https://www.btausa.com.