This week’s photo takes us back to March 21, 1976. That’s glam rock legend David Bowie (center) being arrested on drug charges by undercover cops at the Americana Rochester Hotel on State Street after a concert at the War Memorial. This rare “behind the scenes photo” was passed among the RPD for decades and this week a copy of it found it’s way onto eBay for an asking price of $25,000 $20,000. Get your bids in now – the auction ends tomorrow morning. [Read more about the Bowie arrest here ]
From local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…
It was 37 years ago today when the greatest photo in RPD history was taken. David Bowie was in town on his 1976 World Tour. After giving a performance at the War Memorial Arena on March 20, Bowie was arrested in a hotel suite in the early morning hours of March 21. Three others were also booked including James Osterberg, or Iggy Pop, the “godfather of punk rock.” This infamous mugshot was taken when the rockstar returned to Rochester and pleaded “not guilty” to the felony drug charge in Rochester City Court. This was the story printed in the Democrat and Chronicle the morning of March 22, 1976…
A few months ago two of my readers (I’ll call them Tim and Jeff) contacted me to find out if RochesterSubway.com gave tours of the abandoned subway tunnel. I explained that while I wasn’t in the business of giving tours, I would be happy to go down there with them when the weather warmed up. Tim and Jeff were both on board and I soon posted an “event” on the RochesterSubway.com Facebook page to invite others to join us—cause “safety in numbers” is my credo. Anyway, I figured I’d get 3-6 people to come along and it’d be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Soon enough that little Facebook event had attracted 43 Yes’s and 55 “Maybe’s”. Oh shit!
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
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for an asking price of ![David Bowie's mugshot after being arrested in Rochester NY for possession of marijuana. [PHOTO: Provided by Todd Hess]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/david-bowie-mugshot-rochester-ny-01.jpg)
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