Designed as a series of snapshots, told through the eyes of those who have lived it, this is the alternative history of a street rich in diversity, full of fascinating voices and unlikely encounters. Portobello Road and the surrounding neighbourhood is perhaps the most important source and barometer of social and cultural change in Britain over the last fifty years. Themes of slumification and gentrification, London as a melting pot, vintage fashion, independent record labels and the life and death of record shops emerge from these street-level accounts of the dealers and DJs, film-makers and fashionistas, punks, politicians, producers and poets who make the street what it is. In four sections covering the market, the music scene, Carnival and the changing local population, Julian Mash weaves together their extraordinary stories.