The totemic London A to Z

If you threw a house party in London in the late twentieth century, before the smart phone rendered it redundant, you could guarantee that the following morning there would be a dog-eared copy of the A to Z [street atlas] behind the sofa, or under the coffee table, probably in a Tesco bag. Everybody had at least one. It was an essential aid in understanding London. It joined the dots and threw up obscure names printed over hitherto unexplored grids of streets: Alperton, Shooters Hill, Honor Oak, Tooting Graveney, Shacklewell, Childs Hill, Ladywell. It invited you to create your own personal map of London, discover your own secret routes, your own special places.

What might be lurking in these locations, waiting to be uncovered on a cold winter Saturday? Corner caffs with Pepsi signs. Second-hand record shops and rickety street markets. Edwardian villas which could be the setting for any number of sitcoms, or could even be the location for Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow's home in Joseph Losey's Secret Ceremony. The photo of Syd Barrett leaning against a car on the back of 1970's "Barrett", has a late Victorian, monochrome backdrop which could have been any corner of London - hence, the photo romanticised just about every corner of London.

You could peruse the A to Z with the knowledge of who lived where - Sandy Denny in Wimbledon, before she moved to Muswell Hill, which was already legendary as the home of the Kinks. Arterial roads as grisly as Archway Road (Rod Stewart's place of birth) or Holloway Road (Joe Meek's studio) or Harrow Road (Mute Records HQ) could be made magic through their pop connections. 

Working out how to get from A to B, let alone to Z, was deeply intricate, slowly accrued knowledge. How do you get to Craven Cottage, or Claremont Road, or the Old Spotted Dog for a three o'clock kick off? When you put your transistor radio in a carrier bag, you remembered to stick your A to Z in there as well. 

- Bob Stanley, liner notes in Bob Stanley presents London A to Z: 1962-1973 (CD compilation), Ace Records, 2023