When one thinks of the 1960s, images of colorful, eye-popping clothes and perhaps even The Beatles come to mind. Well all of these “Swinging Sixties” stereotypes can be linked back to one place and one place in particular: London’s Soho.
Long before the sixties came around, Soho was already famous around the world thanks to former famous residents like Mozart and Karl Marx. But some of the many events that took place during the 1960s in Soho changed the course of both music and fashion trends for years to come, and its effects can still be felt around the world today.
Out of all the surprising events that took place in Soho, here are some amazing vintage photographs capture scenes of Soho in the 1960s:
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| Fashionable young Londoners smoking pipes and cigarettes in long holders on a Soho street in 1965. |
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| A man at the entrance to a strip club in Soho, London, April 1961. |
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| The Who, led by singer Roger Daltrey with John Entwistle on bass guitar (left), Keith Moon on drums and Peter Townshend on guitar (right), playing live in 1965 at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London. |
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| A model taking part in a photoshoot in the window of a new Henry Moss boutique in Carnaby Street, London in 1966. |
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| Muhammad Ali walks back to his London Hotel along Wardour Street attracting a crowd of onlookers and fans, after a press conference in Soho, London. He returned to England for a rematch against Sir Henry Cooper for the World Heavyweight title on May 21, 1966. |
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| Passers-by at Carnaby Street in 1966. |
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| A fish and chip shop in Soho, London and its night time customers in 1966. |
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| The brightly lit Soho Record Centre catches the eye of some late night window shoppers cruising past in a car in London’s busy Soho district in 1966. |
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| John Lennon dressed as a Public Lavatory Commissionaire in 1966 during the filming of the Not Only... But Also Christmas Special, starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. He is outside a public convenience near Berwick Street, in London’s Soho. |
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| Two men standing on a Soho street corner in 1966. |
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| A view down Frith Street, looking south towards Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho in 1966. |
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| A customer at the Take 6 boutique in London’s Wardour Street tries on a jacket as all-girl group She Trinity play live in the background. The boutique hired bands to play during the lunch hour to attract more customers in 1967. |
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| Carnaby Street fashions in 1967. |
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| Young mods queuing outside the Tiles Club in London’s Soho clubland ion 1967. |
(Photos: Getty Images)