Jonny Woo talks the reinvention of East London…
In the mid nineties the number 55 to Hackney ran empty throughout the night and black cabs would often refuse fares into the farther reaches of the borough.
Bereft of a tube station this borough of East London was practically a no go for a boy about town and Soho flourished with new shiny cafe bars boasting large windows showing off bevvies of well groomed lads bobbing to the handbag tunes of the day.
In the years prior to the new ‘overground’, Hackney was decidedly underground and was the secret alternative to Soho’s commercial mainstream.
Two decades later the reinvention of this former scruffy outback could not have been more extreme and amongst the throngs of young clubbers who cram into the buses, pour out of Liverpool Street and spew from the new station in Dalston there is an ever growing number of gay boys and girls heading east. It cannot be denied that now, what was the alternative is now the mainstream.
Amongst those who have been in the area for several years the Old Street corner where East Bloc sits, crammed full practically 24/7, has garnered the nickname ‘Voxton’ as those who would have otherwise stumbled through Vauxhall have taken the Northern line in the opposite direction and found themselves another roundabout north of the river around which to play.
Dalston Superstore, which recently celebrated a well earned 4th birthday, used to be solely the haunt of local queers and now regularly attracts crowds with a decidedly Soho flavour who enter clean shaven and leave with the ubiquitous wispy beard or ironic moustache.
Vogue Fabrics, the area’s notorious speakeasy, is even referred to as ‘Lyall’s’ after its glamorous owner by punters who wouldn’t have the first idea where to get a cow’s foot in the local market let alone a Ghanian water rat! It’s been ten years since I myself first climbed onto a barrel in the corner of The George and Dragon half-naked screaming ‘anyone for potty cocktails?’ and this legendary boozer shows no sign of tiring any time soon.
The DJs, bar owners, promoters and trannies responsible for this transformation of the area (and with some modesty I include myself since I can proudly claim to be synonymous with the area) have to a large extent helped ‘re-invent’ London’s gay scene.
People go East for the unexpected, so much so that the unusual has become commonplace to a point where it is the norm. Electro, house, pop, R’n’B and hip-hop nestle comfortably side by side which was rare, if unheard of a decade or so earlier and is definitely not the same beat to which central London bounces.
No night is complete without a smear of ‘alt-drag’ on the bar. And the time when the ‘three legged girls’ used to party together has almost passed as each one gets booked at different venues throughout the borough on a busy Saturday.
“We have done this ourselves and it is a cause for celebration. Let the facelift continue and ring the bells out for re-invention”
I am not claiming that it’s only in East London in which creative headway has and is made, at the height of the dance palace and ecstasy excesses of the 90s Duckie blasted in and did things decidedly differently and continues to forge ahead with pioneering creative partying, but the excitement and obsession with all things East has made a significant cultural shift in how we go out.
Yes of course, it’s not like the re-invention of the wheel, basically people get pissed, get off their tits and dance until they drop, but what is at the heart of what we are trying to do is make people smile, laugh and have fun and celebrate our differences and diversity.
I’ve had lots of talks recently with people who say how the area has changed and lost its identity. Its ‘alternative-ness’ is becoming like the scene of ten years ago or the mainstream which they were trying to escape.
I say ‘tough shit baby!’ It’s called being a victim of our own success. East London dared to do things differently and now everyone wants in on the action and I say hurrah for that.
It would be easy just to open the doors of the bars and clubs and let the throngs in and think our work is done but the ‘re-invention’ must continue and it is a fluid process.
The area is characterised by creativity and the gays are a fairly small if noisy part of a much bigger picture. I say, yes people will come over and bring some of the old homogenous attitude of yesterday and I say to them, put your top back on, think about having a conversation and for god sake smile!
We are all part of the re-invention of our scene and in 2013 I look around the part of London which has been my home now for almost 20 years and see a new, vibrant and creative community, and I use that word in it’s truest sense.
I am proud to think I am part of this change, you are part of this change. We have done this ourselves and it is a cause for celebration. Let the facelift continue and ring the bells out for re-invention. Bring it on!
• Catch Jonny doing his thang at the following venues soon:
• Tramp, Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland Road, Dalston, E8 2PB. Saturday 11th May, 9pm-3am. Free before 10pm, £5 after.
• Jonny Woo: Wonder Woo-Man at the Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, Soho, W1D 3NE. 24th May – 1st June, 9.45pm. Tickets £15 (£12.50).
• Gay Bingo at the Soho Theatre, 7.30pm, 19th May. Tickets £12.50.Â
