A younger generation is donning miniskirts and go-go boots and dancing to vintage Northern soul and Motown at Cafe Club Fais Do-Do and Club Soulside.
Since she was a teenager, Long Beach resident Darma Elofson has considered herself a mod, part of a stylish subculture with roots in 1960s Britain that set itself apart from motorcycle-jacket-clad rockers. The mod revival that surged stateside and across the Pond in the late 1970s and early ’80s introduced devotees like Elofson to its tenets of soul music, Italian scooters, and — above all — sharp dressing.
“Typically, as a mod, your shirt would be buttoned up,” she says. “It’s a clean-cut kind of thing, nice and neat, ’60s style.” But on second Saturdays, Elofson untucks her shirt and undoes a few buttons so she can let loose on the dance floor at Club Soulside, a monthly party of Northern soul, Motown, and vintage reggae music at that keeps ’60s British subcultures alive and kicking — literally — at West Adams’ Cafe Club Fais Do-Do.
The Northern soul dancers who turn up are known for doing the Shuffle, a high-energy dance which calls for kicks, spins, and tricks that draw on the theatrics of Motown sensations…
