In the hot summer of 1976 Klaus Hiltscher, aka Affendaddy on Flickr, was in London. Booked in at the Mowbray Court Hotel in Earl’s Court with his wife, the German holidaymaker took pictures of the area where they staged big motor shows and James Earl Ray, killer of Martin Luther King, stayed in 1968.
He took these photographs of Kings Road. We’ve seen his Kodachrome photos of the city’s West End taken during the same holiday. He shows us the Chelsea Drugstore on the corner of Kings Road and Royal Avenue, where Mick Jagger drank a cherry red soda and for a time shoppers had goods hand delivered by a “flying squad” of young women on motorcycles dressed in a tight-fitting purple catsuits. Hip, trendsetting Kings Road was were Mr Freedom sold Elton John his winged boots, friends and lovers danced at the lesbian Gateways club, and Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s boutique yelled SEX to punks and others passers, and later told us to Let It Rock.
After touring the capital, he left London and headed to the south coast, arriving Brighton on 2 August. He stayed at Hotel Miami – “what a name for a British hotel in Brighton,” says Klaus. “The room was £4 a day plus breakfast. For a couple of days there, we bought T-Shirts, records and ate a crepe at a place called Asterix in the Lanes. We had a lunch at Wimpy’s and another at Castle House Restaurant and took a long walk along the beach-road, taking a lot of pics.” It was the first time he’d ever been on a pier and played bingo…
Put money in the slot to work the hotel TV
Leaving the hotel
Inside Gamut gift shop
Kalus working on his trvel diary:
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