Travel: Kansas City to Los Angeles

David Bowie and his entourage travelled from Kansas City, Missouri, to Los Angeles on 16 October 1972.

They stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard for several days. The Ziggy Stardust Tour resumed on 20 October at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October.

Bowie took the Super Chief train to LA, while the rest of the touring party flew. The tour was rapidly losing money at this stage, although shortly after their arrival Bowie’s manager Tony Defries successfully persuaded RCA to pay for the rest of the tour.

During the downtime Bowie mixed Iggy and the Stooges’ Raw Power album at Hollywood’s Western Sound Studios. While there, he met Lulu, who was recording at the studios. In the coming months they would collaborate on several occasions.

Also staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel was Elton John, who one day took afternoon tea with Bowie. At night Bowie and his entourage often visited Rodney Bingenheimer’s E Club on Sunset Boulevard. It had opened just days earlier, and played predominantly British music.

Rodney single-handedly cut a path through the treacle of the ’60s, allowing all we ‘avants’ to parade our sounds of tomorrow, dressing in our clothes of derision.