Fond Memories Of Soho Part 2
The Soho area contained a cross section of different groups
from different social backgrounds, working class Teddy Boys and their hated
foe, also working class, the trend setting Mods.
On the other side of the
street as it were, the beats or beatniks, middle class, the self-style
intellectuals who’s counterculture was inspired by the works of Kerouac and
Sartre of whom many were jazz freaks.
There was also a liberal sprinkling of
skid row down and outs, journalists, art students from St Martins art school in
Charing Cross rd, hack writers and some on the borders of sanity, (example-
Iron Foot Jack) and a liberal sprinkling of villains’ (Jack Spot self styled
king of the underworld and rival Billy Hill who was born in Seven Dials.
The
intellectuals tended to congregate in the French (pub), or to give it’s proper
moniker, The York Minister which is in Dean St, and still the main watering
hole for artists and writers today or the old
Colony Room, also in Dean St.
which has since closed.
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| George as a Mod. |
There were certain territorial tensions between these
different groups be it real or imagined. This tension was picked up by Colin
McInnes in his book ‘Absolute Beginners‘, and portrayed in the Julien Temple
film of the same name. Temples film was slated by the critics of whom many came
from Soho’s intellectual wing who, as I had been told, walked out of the the
films preview claiming it was utter rubbish and made them all look like
buffoons’ and promptly went off to Wheelers to sulk and get pissed. Having seen
the film a few times, I thought it captured the feel and essence of Soho for me
and my teenage friends on our first, and later visits, to Soho.
I thought McInnes
book was a great read, and Julien Temple’s interpretation was spot on
especially the racism at the time. By late 1959/60 I considered myself and my
fellow cronies, Modernist’s and more into the new street style. Le Macabre
coffee bar in Meard St was an interesting place to visit one guy I remember who
held court there, was Bohemian Johnny, who had long blonde flowing hair and was
dressed all in black with a black cape, held together with a silver pin, he
look like something out of a Hammer Horror film. In the late 1970/80s my cousin
owned Hammer Films whose address was Hammer house in Wardour St. However, as
you descended into the semi darkness you were confronted by black walls, black
tables, and black chairs.
In fact the tables
were made to look like coffins with lighted candles in plastic skulls on top
with skeletons hanging from the walls giving a subterranean atmosphere. Other
places around Soho used old Chianti bottles for candle holders to give their
premises’ a more Mediterranean feel. We would often go along to the 100 club on
Oxford St to see the Humphrey Lyttelton’s band.
The place was always packed
with beatnik’s and jazz fans it was a great place for dancing. Holding your
partners hand you would do a kind of skip and shuffle to the beat. Some of the
girls danced bare footed and some would wear long white granddad night shirts,
all, of which was outrageous at the time On some weekends we would go by train
from Victoria to Chislehurst Caves for the jazz and skiffle, which was in Kent
to find it full of the Soho beats, who could also be seen at Ken Colyer’s
studio 51 club in Grt Newport St.
The caves had been used as air raid
shelter’s, during world war two, but was a great venue for live music plus it
was all in candle light and felt even more subversive than ever.
A little later the ‘Greasers’ discovered our little secret
club in the caves and it became a rendezvous for them and their motorbikes,
which finally droves us Beats out. It soon got too heavy with punch-ups and
other stuff which ruined the atmosphere, as we soon discovered when we all went
back there as ‘ Modernist’s on our scooters in 1961 all sporting college boy
haircuts.
However, by now the ’Greasers’ to us ‘Mods’ excuse the pun were ‘cavemen,
and by then the Caves were not hip anymore. Carnaby St in Soho and the Kings
Road Chelsea were the new scene, for aspiring fashionista’s, and peacocks, places
which weren’t natural reservations for
the greasers, who by then had been renamed ’Rockers.’ They found a new homes in
north London on the A1 at the old transport ’Ace Café’ or the 59 club in east
London which was originally both a mod and rockers club, of which I was one of
the founder members.
It was officially
opened by Cliff Richard who sang his hit record ‘Move it’, after which we all
jived to ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’ by Little Richard, which was a much better
number to dance to, at the time, as I was a big fan of a Little Richard. As
‘Modernist’s’ we would spend as much time as possible cruising Soho on our
scooters, and posing down the Kings Road in our new gear.
Using our own
designs, some of our clothes, and shoes, were made to measure at the local
cobbler, and tailor shop, this was just before Carnaby St had appeared on the
fashion map late 1958/59. Fred Perry tennis shirts became a fashion item, which
we bought from his new store in Carnaby St. I also wore green snakeskin shoes
with Cuban heels to my own design.
These were worn with a bottle green double breasted Italian
style box jacket with cloth buttons in the same fabric. This style was known a
bum freezer due to its short length. Later on in the mid-60s we started to wear
two tone mohair suits. We, as the first wave of Mods, also carried the old
plastic Paka-Macs in the panniers of our scooters to kept our smart clothes dry
and clean on wet excursions to Brighton. Some of the lads later, would wear
Parkas, or ex army service Ponchos and karki desert hats, some preferred the
pork pie hat as I did.
Fortunately, from a fashion point of view It was still not
illegal to have to wear a crash helmet, which would have spoilt the cut of our
clothing. The ’Mod revivalists’ of today tend to look a bit to nerdy, wearing
crash helmets. We had a choice which we excised in a rebellious way; you just
had to look cool.
An item of footwear
which never seems to get mentioned, when talking about Mod Styling, was the
‘moccasin’, which were made of soft leather, and bought on mail order or from a
departmental store called Gamages, now gone which was in High Holborn.
They came in kit form which you made yourself using the
simple instructions supplied. Another favourite were Swede Desert Chukka boots,
which had crepe soles. I bought these in Charing Cross Rd, close to Tin Pan
Alley (Denmark St) where I had previously bought my first pair of teddy boy
brothel creepers. In the wintertime I would ride around on my Vespa wearing a
Price of Wales check overcoat bought from Lord John boutique in Carnaby St. We
were also keen on French casual styling as well, which was all the rage.
To look really cool we would smoke either Gauloises, Gitanes
cigarettes, when hanging out in the Old Wimpey Bars on Shaftesbury Avenue, or
down the Kings Road Chelsea. To impress and look super cool to impress the
girls we would also smoke Sobranie, Russian blacks with gold tips. We also
watched French films, the titles, all of which have now eluded me.
My best mate often
wore a black French beret, and the blue and white striped matelot shirt, a kind
of hip uniform common around the coffee
bars of Soho. We both looked the business him on his Lambretta and me on my
Paggio Vespa GS. We were in hipsville, cool cats that was the scene.
One character in the
late 5Os and early 6Os Soho was Raye DuVal who billed himself as ‘Britain’s Ace
Drummer’ and had the world record for playing the drums no stop, for so many
days without a break, how many ? I can‘t remember now. He often appeared
at the Top Ten Club in Berwick St and
also at Chislehurst Caves.
On the corner of Berwick St and D’arblay St was the Freight Train
coffee bar, A folksy hangout which was opened by Chas McDevitt on the strength
of his hit record called ‘Freight Train’ which featured, Scots lass Nancy
Whiskey singing vocals. Chas used to
live on the corner of Old Compton St and Charing Cross Rd opposite Molly Moggs.
Part of the building was also being use for prostitution.
Sam Widges Coffee bar in Berwick St was opposite the Freight Train and in the
basement was the Top Ten Club which was run by Vince Taylor and the Playboys.
In 1960 I meet, and later married a local Covent Garden girl who appeared to be
half beatnik and half Mod, whom I had meet in the ‘Farm’ Coffee bar a beatnik
hang out on Monmouth St, Seven Dials, which was run by Brian & Susan
Robins.
It reminded me of Le Macabre without the coffins. It was a arty place
full of ethnic stuff. Opposite was the Nucleus Coffee Bar which had previously
been run by Gary Winkler. Its clientele, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch soon to be
part of Cliff Richards backing group the Drifters, all 2is coffee bar protégés,
and were amongst many others on the fringes of the music scene at that time.
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| Site of 2i's in Old Compton Street. |
After Gary had left,
it became a place which attracted all kinds of flotsam and jetsam, from
prostitutes, drug dealers, and low life’s of all kinds, which also included
artists and poets who would gyrate from the ‘Farm’ on the other side of the
street for a change of atmosphere.
After a few visits we
got friendly with a young prostitute, who was sporting a broken arm, in a
sling, after she had been beat up by her pimp. We were planning to go to
Brighton, and sleep under the pier for the weekend and asked her, to come with
us for a break away from Soho, and to have a break away, from her pimp. Sadly,
She declined, and that weekend ended up getting her throat cut, by one of her
clients she had picked up on a Soho street. I found out after reading about her
murder which was a headline story in the
News Of The World.
Next door to the ‘Nucleus’ was Manns the picture framers who
were, and still are, neighbours of mine.
Their shop front was blasted by shotgun pellets after an altercation by drug
dealers outside their premises from another group of dealers hanging out in the
Nucleus. By now Beatle mania was sweeping the country, and a great place to buy
made to measures shoes was Anello and David. Anello’s also had a shop on Oxford
St and another in New Compton St, which was close to Gamba shoes on the corner
of Old Compton St and Dean St.
Both shops provided ballet shoes to the theatrical trade in
the West End. Anello’s being a big supplier to The Royal Opera House in Covent
Garden and its ballet schools.
By 1961/2 my wife to be was working for the Boss Mr Ricco in
their workshop and store in Drury Lane opposite the old Winter Garden Theatre,
(which was rebuilt as New London Theatre) Anello’s became the Mecca for rock
stars searching out the now famous Beatle Boots, These boots were also known as
Chelsea boots which had elasticated sides with Cuban heels which the Beatles
had adopted as a fashion statement.
She fitted out most of the big bands at the
time including The Animals, Bob Dylan, Manfred Mann the Mersey Beats and many
others. It was only after the Beatles had bought a pair they were christened
‘Beatle Boots’.
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| The Beatles in Soho |
As Beatle mania
was sweeping the nation, the Drury Lane
outlet was swamped out every weekend with kids from all over the country
queuing all the way up Drury Lane in search of this, latest fashion item, to
add to their wardrobes. Having lived in Covent Garden since 1963, Soho and the
surrounding West End, became my manor. In the 60s new clubs were opining in
Soho to cater for the teen boom. Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames appeared at
the basement club The Flamingo ( also known a the Mingo). It was here in the
1960s that Christine Keelers boyfriend threatened to shoot her.
Later the Whiskey A Go Go opened on the floor above the
Mingo. The club was situated at the south end of Wardour St, and faced Gerrard
St, now known as China town. The whiskey
A Go Go used to be shoe shop, and is now part of the O’Neill chain of
restaurants, and The Flamingo is now Ladbrokes the bookmakers.
Another place close
by was the London Bullion Exchange which was next to the Log Cabin. The
Cabin had a reputation for being the
haunt of the (Faces) or (Chaps) of which
the criminal fraternity like to call themselves I‘d been down there with a
friend who had been meeting someone, it felt rather heavy, it was in the 1970s
when it was still open. They also used the greasy spoon Harmony Café in Archer
St next to the stage door of the Windmill Theatre, and opposite the Musicians Union.
Some of the
shops and clubs have long since gone but
some still survive. Now gone the French bakers ‘The Boulangerie’ (wonderful
smell)which was situated next to ‘L’Escargot’ Greek St opposite Peter Cooks
‘Establishment Club’ (closed) which was at no 18.
Also gone ‘Pugh’s’ Welsh dairy in Frith St. I would often
pop in for bread and milk when returning home after visits to the Marshall St
clinic with my two young daughters after their regular health checks and
vaccinations.
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| The Pugh Family leave Soho |
Also gone ‘Gamba Shoes’ in
Old Compton St and ‘Anello and David’ ballet shoes over the road on the corner
of New Compton St. However, I did have a choice though, living on the edge of
Soho, in Covent Garden.
Also gone are the wet fish shops I used to use in the 1960s.
It was either ‘Richards’ fish shop on the corner of Drury Lane and Macklin St,
which had a brothel above the shop. Or their sister shop on Brewer St. The
Brewer St shop, was opposite ‘Lina
Stores’ at no 18. Lina Stores are still in business today. Another Shop that
needs a mention, is ‘The Algerian Coffee Store’, which gave Old Compton St
then, and still does today, that wonderful prevailing aroma of fresh ground
coffee.
Today (2012) I still shop at Camisa’s in Old Compton St for cheese and
Pama ham. Now retied, I still manage to chill out in Soho, drinking cappuccinos
and having tea at Patisserie Valerie, watching the changing scene after
shopping trips to Berwick St market.
When passing ’Bar Italia’ I reminisce when I see another
generation of ‘Mods’ posing with their scooters, but looking a bit nerdy having
to wear crash helmets, since the law was changed. It wasn’t against law when I
was a teenager, so we could look more cool than the revivalists do today.
I remember a few
years back, going into ‘Maison Bertaux’ and without thinking, asked Michele for
a cappuccino? The polite reply I got was ‘This is a French establishment! Not
Italian‘.
Such is the ethnic mix of Soho, which is much the same as it has
always been, which adds to it eccentric charm (although eccentricity seems to
be on the decline, there’s not many left on the reservation these days) even so
Soho’s reputation for being eclectic and different still remains, and long may
it be so.
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| George with Jo Weir (OBE) at the Soho Festival 2011 (Winner of Best Dressed Man) |
Thanks George. X mosoho 2012
