Dean Street is a street in Soho, central London, running from Oxford Street south to Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has a tradition in healthcare, over the years there have been various hospitals on the street, pioneering establishments for prevention and cure of diseases. The Royal Ear Hospital occupied number 10, an early maternity hospital was also located here and the Lock Hospital too had its base in Dean Street, Lock being a euphemism for venereal disease. Today there are two Sexual Health clinics on Dean Street: 56 Dean Street, and Dean Street Express at number 34, opposite Royalty Mews.
Dean Street has in recent years been a centre of the creative and advertising industries including film and video editing facilities; this was especially true from the 1960s to the 1990s.
There have been many music and theatre venues on the street, including the Soho Theatre, which presents new plays and stand-up comedy. The celebrated Gargoyle Club ran for 27 years in the upper floors at number 69, an address that also housed the nightclub Billy's in its cellars during the late 1970s. There New Romanticism, a landmark youth movement, took root.
In the DC Universe, the mystic known as Madame Xandadu maintained a shop on the corner of Dean Street. Carter Hall came to her one day bearing a relic known as the Nautilus of Revealment. She brought him into her shop where she performed a blood ritual to determine its connection to Hall, which caused him to experience memories of his past lives. (Hawkman Vol 5 1)
Points of interest[]
- Madame Xanadu's shop
- The mystic fortune teller known as Madame Xanadu maintained a shop on the corner of Dean Street, which was across the way from an eatery called The Three Greyhounds. The shop was more of a front than anything else, with all of the decor that one would expect from a fortune teller, including crystal balls, potions, dusty tomes, and half-melted candles. The back of the shop was her personal residence, which was where she practiced her more legitimate arcane arts. By contrast, this apartment was very pedestrian containing a kitchen area and a small round dining table.
Appearances[]
