A VISIT TO J. SIMONS by Russell Street As a young man growing up in London - learning how to order a round of drinks properly and when to make a girl laugh (and when not to) - all the usual 'rites of passage' stuff - two shops were important: Ray's and John's (and Ronnie's was the most important club...).The old Ray's Jazz shop is now sadly lost to us with its long counter and rough wooden floor.. But John's, or more properly 'J.Simons', is still with us and only a short stroll from where Ray's used to be. 'J. Simons' is far from being John Simons' first shop, but it is the shop of his that I knew first and the shop where I first met real 'Ivy League' style in London after trying to put together 'The Look' by myself based on films, magazines and of course the LP sleeves that I used to study in Ray's Jazz every Saturday morning. And 'finding' J. Simons was a real life-changing moment for me, because if there was a shop in London that sold all this little-known stuff I was into, then it meant there were other people like me in London who were into all this too. But I'm jumping ahead of myself here - back to my first visit to J.Simons - or rather what I'll do is to combine an amalgam of visits to the place over the past 23 years to try to give you a flavour of why the shop is so unique in London and why it means so much to a certain section of the English population. J. Simons opened in 1981 but it was only when I was told about the place in 1985 that I knew it even existed. I had walked past Russell Street in Covent Garden for years but had never been down it. I had been out for drinks after work when I met two guys in a club who dressed a bit like me. Like me, but a lot better.. So we got talking and drinking until the club closed and they told me about John's and next Saturday we all went there. Simple as that. J.Simons is quite a small place, about the size of an average sitting room I guess, with a real 'college shop' feel to it and for me it was very hard to take it all in at first. Shoes and clothes were everywhere. Having been told there was a small shop in London that sold all this stuff I really wasn't prepared for the volume of stock the shop carried. The place was, and is to this day, crammed with Ivy League clothes and Americana. I had no idea where to start. After being starved for this style for 7 or 8 years I was suddenly standing in a space filled from floor to ceiling with just about everything that interested me.
J. Simons is softly lit and so walking in from the daylight you can easily miss things if you move too fast; your eyes need a moment to adjust. On your right as you walk in is the shoe cabinet - an old wooden country style dresser pretty much - and it is round about at this point that the smell of the shop hits you, just a couple of steps inside and out of the traffic fumes of the street. The smell has changed slightly over the years (the Sanforized cotton of the shirts isn't such a strong note these days as you can't get the American shirts... The Americans don't make them like they used to for one reason...) but the smell of clean warm wool, leather and wood is still as distinctive as ever. No other shop smells quite as good as J.Simons in my experience. And another treat for the senses is that you can just wander over and pick anything up that you fancy and check it out. This is not always the case in London where certain sales people in certain shops can be more than a little 'territorial' about customers invading their space. Depending on who's on duty in J. Simons you'll get a nod from John, a smile and a Hello from Jeff and another nod from Ken and then they'll leave you to it. They let the stock sell itself pretty much, but as soon as you ask a question then you have their complete attention. American loafers and brogues feature heavily in and on the shoe cabinet along with bucks, saddle-bucks, chukkas, Steve McQueen style 'Playboy' boots & shoes. And all the usual names are there: Bass, Sebago, Allen Edmonds, Redwing, Loake, Walkover, Florsheim, Alden & Cole Haan too in the past. Unusual names have also featured: 'Eastland' handsewns from Freeport Maine, 'Buffalo Creek Traders' (again handsewn) from Virginia, Paraboot from France... Anything really with The Look that John Simons has discovered on his travels. After the shoes as you walk further into the shop come the ties along the right hand wall. Knitted silk or cotton in stripes and solids, silk foulards, regimentals and reps, all hung across the wall between the shoe cabinet and the shop's counter. Generally round about here, if John is in his usual place near the till, you can just about start to hear the jazz he has playing softly by his chair which reminds you of how the Ivy League style came into London in the first place via American GIs and English Modern Jazz fans mixing in the clubs of Soho. Beyond the till are Sack and Slack jackets and suits, overcoats and outer jackets hung up to the ceiling pretty much with trousers, khakis and cords hung in the same way on the left wall of the shop opposite. And the space in between is also taken up with yet more racks of clothes and display cabinets featuring whatever new stock has just come in. At this point I usually head for the shirts further down the left hand wall for a bit of a breather before I tackle the central part of the shop. It wouldn't do to miss anything... Shirts are from a variety of sources in button-down and plain-point collar styles. Solids, stripes, multi-stripes, plaids, madras, seersucker - all the usual suspects. But you can't help thinking of all the names from the past which were once there in the wooden display cabinet and are now lost to us: Troy Shirtmakers Guild, Sero's 'The Purist' shirts ('Nothing is obvious except the quality'), New Haven's 'Par-Ex', even the slim-collared Geoffrey Scott button-downs... However Woolrich and BD Baggies are still there along with Hartford's wonderful soft-collared shirts amongst others so the sun hasn't quite set on this aspect of the shop. If America still made the old shirts then J. Simons would still sell them. Like any Ivy League shop seasonal stock comes and goes at J.Simons. Soon again it will be that Pendleton time of year with their wool shirts and zipper jackets adding to the mix in the shop. Then when Spring comes again the new season's range of Haggar half-sleeve sports shirts will appear along with their polo shirts and shorts. The stock never stands still and there's always new things coming in, sourced from the US or Europe. Increasingly important to the shop are John Simons' vintage finds which bring in fantastic original items from all the big names in the Ivy League style from over the years like Brooks Brothers. Remember back when Brooks Brothers used to sell the Ivy League style? More than just Ivy, the J. Simons vintage range also brings in items from various designers and from Savile Row too - all one-off pieces selected for their quality and style. The shop is very much John Simons' own vision, informed by his passion for, and knowledge of, the Ivy League style and is a real London landmark. But don't take my word for it - just ask any Cabby and he'll take you straight to Number 2, Russell Street, Covent Garden. The place is a legend.
Russell circa 1985 shortly before the first J.Simons visit
Russell circa 2003 resplendent in 'the look'
J.Simons, 2 Russell Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5TD tel 0207 379 7353 fax 0207 240 4788
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