Some of them cry a bit. Then they go home.
September 19, 2013 7:57 AM   Subscribe

As the sun sinks slowly into Mayfair and the stars come out over Centre Point, the funster’s thoughts turn inexorably towards the bright lights and rundown neon of that square half-mile known as Soho, sin city nestling like a soiled Kleenex in the bosom of our great metropolis Soho 1983: A Girl's Guide To Peep Shows, Topless Bars & Nude Encounters
posted by fearfulsymmetry (5 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite


 
I search in vain for elbow-length black rubber gloves with which to do the washing-up.

"Who's been a naughty dish, then?"
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:08 AM on September 19, 2013


"Who's been a naughty dirty dish, then?"

FTFM.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:09 PM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


I was six in 1984 when I went on my first ever trip to London.

Having grown up on the middle of my family's farm, a mile outside the nearest village, which was an hour's drive from the nearest "big city", which was Cambridge, I was mightily impressed by the fact that there were lots of people in London, not one of whom seemed to know or care who I was.

Father left me outside a pub while he went in and caught up with some old friends. This being the 80s, taking a small child inside a pub was obviously far worse than leaving him outside with a bottle of pop, a packet of crisps and a copy of The Eagle.

The pub was the Coach and Horses on Greek Street in Soho, and I must have been about 200 yards down the road from the "SAUNA MASSAGE PARLOUR" caught in one of these photos, though I can't say I remember noticing it.

A boy could learn a lot about life very quickly in those days.
posted by bebrogued at 1:06 PM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


The first thing that went through my head was the old song "Soho a go go" by The Members. That must go back to about 1977. So I looked on Youtube for a video so I could post a link here. There is nothing from the original days of punk, not even the original recording. But there are some videos from within the last year. And OMFG they are all old and bloated and the lead singer is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and he looks like Jimmy Buffett. There's one video with a kid with a stupid dihedral mohawk standing up by the stage as they start the song, and when Special Guest Rat Scabies starts the song with a drum solo, the kid walks away disinterestedly.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:43 PM on September 19, 2013


Used to go down to London a lot as a kid, had relatives there... I kind of miss the grimy, dirty, a bit dangerous London. Though even back then I think Soho was seen as a bit of joke / complete con to trap unwary businessmen/tourists. Kinda like Angus Steak Houses today.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:58 AM on September 20, 2013


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