Just as Damon Runyon's characters jumped off the page and became part of people's imaginations, every city needs heroes and faces from myth and legend. London is no different, and if you've lived here for any length of time, you'll have attracted many of the people who define the city.
It could be your local liquor store, the guy who works at the greengrocer down the road, the lawyer you always talk to at football games, or the journalist you befriended at your local cafe. . Over the years, there were six guys I'd been nodding along with and they worked at different record shops around town. I didn't know much about them, but they were always there. It was confusing when they moved away.
I went to nightclubs for years and knew dozens of people just by their Christian names. I had no idea what they did, it didn't matter, I didn't care. Years ago, there was a character named Jesus who showed up naked to festivals and gigs in London. He was so famous that if you went to a concert and didn't see him, you would inevitably be disappointed. He was part of the fabric of London. He was the real face of London (and actually the face of London of sorts).
No matter how big your city is, you want to be able to walk around and recognize people you know.
London is full of many faces. Fashion designer Paul Smith still spends his weekends at his Notting Hill store tending to customers, checking on deals and feeling energized. Jeremy King is a classic London face, always showing up at his restaurants, no matter how many people are there at any given time. If you go to Arlington and don't have him, you'll be disappointed. He will soon be opening a new American-style place, The Park, on the north side of Hyde Park, and part of the fun of going there is meeting Jeremy. If he's there, so be it.
Just as Beverly Hills needs celebrities, London needs faces, Miami Beach needs models, and Manchester needs soccer players. No matter how big a city is, you want to be able to walk around it and recognize people you know. You may have never met them, spoken to them, and in fact, you may not even know their names. But you recognize them and feel better. Soho used to have many of London's faces – Jeffrey Barnard in Coach and Horses, Bernie Katz in Groucho and Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst were everywhere – but now Now they can be seen everywhere from Silvertown to Acton to Chelsea Harbour. To Tower Hamlets.
The biggest face of London's real estate industry is Pilcher Hirschman partner David Rosen – a “space agent” rather than a real estate agent. Don't know them? Well, they're probably responsible for some of the coolest buildings in your city, repurposed warehouses and mixed-use shopping centers. Until he moved the company to Golden He Square, David's office was on Savile Row (opposite Richard He James and Oswald his Boateng) and David was known as Savile Rosen. Not everyone can get away with something like that, but David was able to because he's a face. The face of London. One of the things I love about David is that he only looks in two directions. Above, towards the London building, and then towards the bottom, looking closely at your shoes.
Like other London faces, David has his own way of adjusting to acceptability. Another characteristic of David is his almost pathological obsession with the Beatles. He was responsible for the blue plates on Savile Row, in recognition of the fact that the Fabs played their last concert on the roof of No. 3.
Until recently, David's only vices seemed to be watching Arsenal and eating at Cecconi's (same table, same food every day). Inspired by George Harrison, Bob Dylan, the Velvet Underground, and a love of '60s soul, David now explores himself as a rock star, fronting a band of Danish street rebels called Longshot. I'm reinventing myself. If you're up for it, they're playing at Dublin Castle in Camden this Wednesday. If I were you, I'd take a look at what the real London face looks like.
Dylan Jones is editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard
