David Bowie was born in London, in the Brixton district. Although he lived elsewhere for many years (primarily in New York and Berlin), London remains a city inseparably linked to his career and success.
This ten-stop itinerary takes place among the neighborhoods of Brixton, Soho, Mayfair, Hammersmith, and South Kensington and is a true pilgrimage recommended for those who love the great artist.
10 David Bowie Places in London: Exploratory Itinerary
1 David Bowie’s Birthplace
Where: 40 Stansfield Road – SW9 9RY. Underground: Brixton.
David Robert Jones was born on January 8, 1947 in this house, on the border between Brixton and Stockwell, to Margaret Mary “Peggy” Burns, who worked as a cinema waitress, and Haywood Stanton “John” Jones, an employee at the charity Barnardo’s. Bowie lived in this house until he was six years old, when the family moved to Bromley.
2 The Brixton Mural
Where: Tunstall Road – SW9 8BN. Underground: Brixton.
In front of the Brixton underground station, along the side façade of the large Morleys department store, is the famous mural of David Bowie, inspired by the iconic album cover of Aladdin Sane. The mural was painted in 2013 by Australian artist James Cochran, on the occasion of the exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum dedicated to Bowie.
In January 2016, after the artist’s death, this site became a true place of worship, with thousands of people (including myself) going there to leave a flower or a note. Many wrote messages on the mural, which was subsequently repainted and protected with a plastic screen.
3 Heddon Street
Where: 23 Heddon Street – W1B 4BQ. Underground: Piccadilly Circus or Oxford Circus.
In this quiet pedestrian side street of Regent Street, in front of number 23, the photo for the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars was taken. In January 1972, photographer Brian Ward was shooting images for the album in a Heddon Street studio. At one point he suggested taking some photos outside, but the band refused because the temperature was freezing and it was raining. Only Bowie agreed.
The exact place where the photo was taken is marked by a commemorative plaque unveiled in 2012 by members of the Spiders from Mars Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey and by Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, a longtime Bowie fan.
4 Trident Studios
Where: 17 St. Anne’s Court – W1F 0BQ. Underground: Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square.
In these Soho studios, David Bowie recorded five albums: Space Oddity (1969), The Man Who Sold the World (1970), Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973).
The production portfolio of Trident Studios is incredible. Their success was due to various factors, not least the use of cutting-edge technologies. They were among the first, for example, to have the eight-track recording system, when even Abbey Road Studios used four tracks.
The Trident grand piano is an absolute legend: it was a hand-built Bechstein from the mid-19th century. It was notoriously difficult to play because the keys were very hard. But once you got into it, the sound was brilliant and crystal clear, so much so that it has been called “the best rock and roll piano ever.” You can hear it, among others, in the Beatles’ Hey Jude, Queen’s Killer Queen, and Elton John’s Your Song. And, of course, in Suffragette City, Life on Mars?, Oh! You Pretty Things and Aladdin Sane.
5 The Gioconda Café
Where: 9 Denmark Street, Soho – WC2H 8LS. Today it is home to the Flat Iron restaurant. Underground: Tottenham Court Road.
Denmark Street had earned the nickname Britain’s Tin Pan Alley, referring to the homonymous area of New York headquarters of music publishers, songwriters and producers. Denmark Street was the place to be if you wanted to become a musician because you could meet the right people there. And so did David Bowie, who left the London suburbs where he lived at the time, transformed an old ambulance into a kind of camper van, and literally camped out on the roadside.
During this stay, his reference place was The Gioconda Café (at number 9), also frequented by Jimi Hendrix, Elton John and Marc Bolan. In this place Bowie formed one of his bands, The Lower Third.
What remains today on Denmark Street from its long musical history are only a few instrument shops. The Gioconda has become a restaurant of the Flat Iron steakhouse chain and the street as a whole is part of a transformation project of the entire Tottenham Court Road area.
6 Marquee Club
Where: 90 Wardour Street – W1F 0TH. Today a condominium. Underground: Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus.
The Marquee is one of London’s historic clubs. All (and really all) English artists of the sixties, seventies, and eighties performed there.
David Bowie regularly attended the club as a spectator and held 22 concerts there between 1965-1973. The first four concerts were with the band The Lower Third. Later, with the new band The Buzz, he secured a residency guaranteeing 14 dates in 1966. In 1969, when David Jones became David Bowie (to avoid confusion with Davy Jones, singer of the Monkees) he played once at the Marquee after the release of Space Oddity and once more on February 3, 1970, to present the album Hunky Dory.
With the invention of the alter ego Ziggy Stardust, Bowie became enormously famous and the Marquee was too small to hold the crowd of fans. Therefore, the artist returned to play there only twice, by invitation, in October 1973, for the recording of a show for American TV NBC.
In 1988, the Wardour Street building was sold and transformed: the building that housed the main hall of the club was demolished and replaced by a restaurant, while the original entrance of the club is today the entrance to the Soho Loft Apartments. The club moved first to Charing Cross and then to other locations in Soho before finally closing, after ups and downs, in 2008.
Watch an excerpt from the 1973 NBC concert in the following video.
7 The Wag
Where: 33-37 Wardour Street – W1D 6PU. Today home to the gastro pub O’Neill’s. Underground: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus.
In 1984, David Bowie filmed the video for the single Blue Jean at the Wag, directed by Julien Temple, winner of the Grammy for Best Video in 1985.
This venue at the edge of Soho’s Chinatown has a long and glorious history. In the fifties and sixties, it was the Flamingo Club, where you could listen to the best jazz and R&B around, as well as one of the first English clubs to host ska bands. In the early seventies, after a short spell known as The Temple, the upper floors of the building became the Whisky a Go Go, which was subsequently renamed The Wag in 1981.
The Wag was one of the underground clubs of reference for the music and fashion world of the eighties, counting among its regular customers Boy George, Sade, George Michael, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano.
In 2001 it ceased to be a club and became a pub of the O’Neill’s chain.
Watch the Blue Jean video
8 Hard Rock Cafe Mayfair
Where: 150 Old Park Lane, Mayfair – W1K 1QZ. Underground: Hyde Park Corner.
The famous restaurant inspired by rock history hides a small treasure inside: The Vault, previously the vault of Coutts Bank, where even the Queen kept her personal valuables. Today it is a small rock memorabilia museum where a guitar owned by David Bowie is also displayed. The most precious piece is the guitar played by Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight (insured for over 4 million pounds); also notable is the corset by Jean Paul Gaultier worn by Madonna on the Blonde Ambition Tour.
The museum is open daily from 12:00 to 20:00 (until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays) with free entry.
9 Hammersmith Odeon
Where: 45 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith – W6 9QH. Underground: Hammersmith.
David Bowie performed at the Hammersmith Odeon (now known as Eventim Apollo) on July 3, 1973. The concert became historic because with the performance of the last song, Rock and Roll Suicide, Bowie symbolically killed his alter ego Ziggy Stardust. It was a completely unexpected event and thus caused much dismay among fans, but also among the Spiders from Mars who discovered in this way that they had been fired. The concert was fully recorded by Donn Alan Pennebaker and became a documentary entitled Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released in 1979.
The Hammersmith Odeon was opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace. Over its long history, it hosted concerts by many artists including Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Queen, Elton John, and Blondie. It was also the venue for numerous audio and video recordings of live concerts and appears in the interior photo of the album Quadrophenia by the Who.
In 2021, concerts by Ellie Goulding, Thom Yorke, and Ronan Keating, among others, are scheduled.
Watch Rock and Roll Suicide from Ziggy Stardust’s last concert.
10 Royal Albert Hall
Where: Kensington Gore, South Kensington SW7 2AP – Underground: South Kensington.
Although the Royal Albert Hall is a legendary concert hall, David Bowie played there only twice. The first time was on March 12, 1970, when he sang Space Oddity alone at a charity concert for mentally disabled children.
The second time was on May 29, 2006, as a surprise guest of David Gilmour. The two legends closed the concert duetting on Arnold Layne and Comfortably Numb. That was Bowie’s last performance in the United Kingdom.
The Royal Albert Hall hosts the BBC Proms every year, a rich summer series of concerts. The Prom of July 29, 2016, was dedicated to David Bowie’s music, with participants including Anna Calvi, Laura Mvula, and Marc Almond.
The Royal Albert Hall has a full schedule of events for this year, with concerts by Brian Adams, Eric Clapton, and Patti Smith among others. From spring 2021, guided tours of the theater will resume, bookable through the website.
Watch Comfortably Numb performed by David Gilmour and David Bowie at the Royal Albert Hall
