The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: September thirteenth, with a portrait of Covent Garden.

The street theater that swirls daily around the portico of St. Paul's Church may be London's longest-running show; some 340 years and still counting, even if it's often interrupted by rain. One recent afternoon, a man juggled three flaming batons on the cobblestones while cracking jokes, cheered by the crowd on the overhanging deck of a nearby pub. Behind him, a plaque marks where in 1662 diarist Samuel Pepys watched England's first Punch and Judy puppet show.

St. Paul's massive, soot and graffiti smudged Tuscan columns, will look familiar to anyone who has ever seen "My Fair Lady" on stage or screen. The first scene of the musical and its source play, Shaw's "Pygmalion," is set here. As flower girl Eliza Doolittle bawls her sales pitch, Professor Henry Higgins peers around a column, taking notes on her Cockney locution before teaching her to speak "like an English lady."

Laid out by Inigo Jones in the 16th century as a classic Italian piazza, Covent Garden became a farmer's market in the 19th century. Today it's a great cobblestoned hive of smart boutiques, craft stalls and cafes, with a smattering of chain stores. The squawks of poultry and vendors have long since been replaced by the sounds of street musicians. The latest rage is inflatable batting cages. Backpacking college students sprawl against Eliza's old pillar at St. Paul's, soaking up the scene.

Shaw, who developed his socialist sympathies from encounters with struggling workers here, might be amazed by Covent Garden's gentrification, but he'd still approve of its ever-roisterous spirit.

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