Berlin is in many ways a city of celebrities. World-famous personalities not only perform regularly in the capital at concerts, some of them also live here. Pop icon David Bowie was one of them. He sought refuge in the former West Berlin from 1976 to 1978. Today, his old apartment is a place steeped in modern music history.
The charm lies in the contrast
Whether you know David Bowie or not, one thing is universally known: The music star was not exactly known for his reserved lifestyle. In 1976, Bowie fled from Los Angeles, which was characterized by excessive drug abuse, to West Berlin. He deliberately sought the anonymity and silence of the divided city in order to overcome his addiction and reinvent himself. Berlin became a “liberating place” for him, where he could “banish his demons”.
He chose Schöneberg, or to be more precise, Hauptstraße 155. From the outside, the building is a typical Berlin stucco building without any glamor. Not at all suitable for Bowie’s high-profile lifestyle, but all the more appropriate as a hiding place and for recovering from his drug addiction.
David Bowie lived in a seven-room old apartment on the second floor of 155 Hauptstrasse. For a short time, he even shared this apartment with his friend Iggy Pop – singer of the Stooges. He also moved to Berlin for rehab. However, one anecdote has it that Bowie soon threw Iggy Pop out of the main apartment because the latter had repeatedly helped himself to Bowie’s fridge. Iggy Pop then moved into a smaller apartment in the rear building of the same complex.
The Berlin Trilogy: music history in Berlin
The Schöneberg years are inextricably linked to Bowie’s musical breakthrough as an experimental artist. His time in Berlin saw the creation of the three groundbreaking albums Low, “Heroes” and Lodger, which went down in music history as the “Berlin Trilogy”.
And these songs also contain specific references to Bowie’s time in Berlin. The title track of the album “Heroes” became an anthem for the divided city and the longing for freedom. The lyrics are about two lovers kissing at the Berlin Wall while border guards shoot at them.
Today’s pilgrimage site: Hauptstraße 155
Today, the house at Hauptstraße 155 in Schöneberg is a place of pilgrimage for fans. Especially on the anniversary of David Bowie’s death, January 10, many people gather there and lay flowers, candles and photos in front of the house entrance.
Just a few meters away is the café now called “Neues Ufer” (formerly Anderes Ufer), which was one of the first queer cafés in Berlin in the 1970s and was Bowie’s regular haunt. The legendary Dschungel club nearby was also a meeting place for Bowie and Iggy Pop. Today it is part of the Ellington Hotel.
A Berlin memorial plaque on the wall of the building commemorates David Bowie’s time at this location, inscribed with the famous line from “Heroes”: “We can be heroes, just for one day.” As inconspicuous as it looks from the outside, nothing less than music history was written from the inside.