West Hollywood · the Mojave · Miami · Long Beach · Winslow

EaglesThe bar, the desert and the long way home, 1969–1980

Three people remember the name three ways. Pick one.

Five long-haired young men in denim and check shirts leaning against a rough plaster wall, Glenn Frey with sunglasses pushed up and arms folded

Eagles for Asylum Records, about 1974: Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Don Felder. Asylum Records · Public domain. Sky: Dusk in Joshua Tree National Park, NPS / Hannah Schwalbe.

9081 Santa Monica Boulevard · 1969–1971

Four stools at the front bar.

Glenn Frey had come from Michigan and Don Henley from Texas; the two met at the Troubadour in 1970, through their record label, Amos.

The club’s own history puts it a little earlier: Linda Ronstadt met Henley and Frey at the front bar in late 1969, and hired them both as her backing band in early 1971.

The low front of the Troubadour club with its sign over the door on Santa Monica Boulevard — The Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood. Gary Minnaert · Public domain

Four empty stools. Pull one up.

Randy Meisner came from Ricky Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. Frey later credited Ronstadt with suggesting Bernie Leadon, a veteran of the Flying Burrito Brothers.

All four played on her self-titled album. They signed to Asylum Records as a band of their own in September 1971.

A working club. Buy a ticket for a show to stand at the front bar, or look from Santa Monica Boulevard. The Troubadour first opened in 1957, as a 65-seat coffeehouse on La Cienega Boulevard. Disneyland is 53 km away. A working theme park on dated tickets. Check the park calendar before you go.

Sources

Black and white portrait of a young Bernie Leadon with shoulder-length hair — Bernie Leadon in Amsterdam in November 1970, with the Flying Burrito Brothers, a year before Eagles. Rob C. Croes / Anefo · CC0

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, pink and blue turrets against a clear sky — Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, Anaheim, in 2019. CrispyCream27 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Barnes, London · February 1972

Made in Barnes, shot in the Mojave.

The brick and stone front of Olympic Studios on a Barnes street — Olympic Studios on Church Road, Barnes, in May 2026. Matt Brown · CC BY 4.0

In February 1972 the band spent about two weeks here recording their first album, with Glyn Johns producing.

Johns pushed for a more acoustic sound and worked hard on the group’s vocal blend. Only one track, Nightingale, was cut elsewhere, at Wally Heider’s in Hollywood.

Closed: a studio on Church Road.

Take It Easy came out as the first single on 1 May 1972 and reached number 12 in the US. The album followed on 1 June.

1971

The idea of calling the band Eagles came on a group outing in the Mojave Desert. The tellings on the first screen are all here: Leadon’s, Frey’s and Steve Martin’s.

The building opened in 1906 as a theatre. The studios closed in February 2009, and the site reopened as a cinema on 14 October 2013, keeping a small recording room.

Now a cinema with a bar and bistro. The box office opens at 9am every day. A national park. A private vehicle pays $30 to enter, valid for seven days.

Sources

National Park Service

Joshua Tree National Park

Mojave Desert, California · $30 a vehicle · seven days

Where the first album’s gatefold photograph was taken. A private vehicle pays $30 to enter, valid for seven days.

Plan a visit

2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills · 1973

Six outlaws, one film set.

Desperado, the second album, became a Western record built round the Doolin–Dalton gang.

Henry Diltz took its cover photographs here, on an old film set for Westerns.

Call sheetParamount Ranch · Western Town · Desperado sleeve

Glenn FreyEagles
Don HenleyEagles
Bernie LeadonEagles
Randy MeisnerEagles
Jackson Brownefriend
JD Southerfriend

Six names from the back cover; the call sheet is our device, not a document from the shoot.

Nobody on set yet.

Wooden false-front buildings of a Western film town on a dirt street under oak-covered hills — Western Town at Paramount Ranch, before the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (NPS) · Public domain

The album itself was made in London with Glyn Johns, who held each song to four or five takes. It came out on 17 April 1973.

Part of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with ample parking: trails, picnics and what survives of Western Town. Paramount Pictures leased the ranch in 1927. The Woolsey Fire of November 2018 destroyed much of Western Town; the train depot and the chapel survived.

Sources

National Park Service

Paramount Ranch

Agoura Hills, California

Walk the film-set street where Desperado was photographed, at 2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills. The train depot and chapel survived the 2018 fire.

Plan a visit

A black and white full-page concert advert with the five Eagles across the top and Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt below — The newspaper advert for Anaheim Stadium on Sunday 28 September 1975: Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and Toots and the Maytals. Los Angeles Times advertisement, 31 August 1975 (scan: User129862) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Anaheim Stadium · 28 September 1975

One more song.

On 28 September 1975 Eagles closed the Sunshine Festival here, after Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and Toots and the Maytals.

Glenn Frey
Don Henley
Randy Meisner
Don Felder
Bernie Leadonlast show

It was Bernie Leadon’s last show with the band.

Five bearded and moustached men in dark clothes crowded together against a grey backdrop, a rose pinned to one jacket — Eagles in a 1975 Asylum Records press photograph, the year of One of These Nights. Asylum Records · Public domain

Walsh took Leadon’s place that year. The Anaheim tape was first released in May 2026, with a deluxe One of These Nights. One of These Nights, made at Criteria and the Record Plant in Los Angeles, was their first number one album, in July 1975.

Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) · five months later

The first platinum.

Released17 February 1976
First platinum album ever24 February 1976
Passes ThrillerAugust 2018
Four times DiamondJanuary 2026

Released: 17 February 1976.

Five months after Anaheim, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) gathered up the Leadon years. Released on 17 February 1976, it was the first album ever certified platinum, a week later.

Now Angel Stadium. The Angels run pregame ballpark tours on game days, from $59 to $84 a person. The stadium opened on 19 April 1966 and was renamed Angel Stadium after the 2003 season.

Sources

The exterior of Angel Stadium with giant red baseball caps at the entrance — Angel Stadium, once Anaheim Stadium, in 2017. The Rambling Man · CC BY-SA 4.0

Los Angeles Angels

Angel Stadium pregame tour

Anaheim, California · $59–$84 a person · game days

A walking tour of the old Anaheim Stadium, where Leadon played his last show in 1975. Tours run on game days.

Check tours

1755 NE 149th Street, North Miami · 1976

Studio C, down to B minor.

Bill Szymczyk brought the band here in 1976 to record half of Hotel California in Studio C.

Black Sabbath were making Technical Ecstasy in the same building, and the Eagles had to stop again and again because Sabbath were too loud.

The title song began as an instrumental demo Don Felder made in a rented house on Malibu Beach. Henley said it sounded like a Mexican reggae, and that became its working title.

A tall pale-green windowless studio block beside a car park under a blue sky — Criteria Studios, North Miami, in 2011: the tall windowless block of the studio rooms. Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0

KeyE minor

An illustration of stepping down, not a transcription of the sessions.

E minor, as Felder demoed it: too high for the man singing from the drums.

Hotel California was recorded between March and October 1976, here and at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. The Long Run was partly made here too, over 18 months from March 1978. Founded in 1958 by Mack Emerman, the studio took back the Criteria name in 2017.

A working studio, not open to visitors. See it from NE 149th Street.

Sources

The pink Beverly Hills Hotel among palm trees, its name in green script along the roof — The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in 2013. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0

1976 · 60 feet up

The Hotel California cover is a photograph of this hotel, taken by David Alexander just before sunset. He shot it from a cherry picker 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard.

The rear cover was shot somewhere else: the lobby of the Lido Hotel in Hollywood. The album came out on 8 December 1976 and reached number one in January 1977. The RIAA has certified it 28 times platinum.

A working hotel. Stay, or eat in one of its restaurants; the view of the cover is from the boulevard. The hotel opened on 12 May 1912 and has 210 rooms and suites and 23 bungalows.

Sources

The Beverly Hills Hotel

Beverly Hills, California

The hotel on the Hotel California cover, open since 1912 at 9641 Sunset Boulevard: 210 rooms and suites and 23 bungalows.

Check rates

The round Long Beach Arena painted all round with grey whales in a blue sea — Long Beach Arena, wrapped in Wyland’s whale mural, in 2007. mark6mauno · CC BY-SA 2.0

Long Beach Arena · 31 July 1980

Wrong Beach, then overnight.

On 31 July 1980 the band played a benefit here for Senator Alan Cranston’s re-election. It became known as the Long Night at Wrong Beach: Frey and Felder spent the show promising each other a beating backstage.

It was the band’s last live show until 25 April 1994. There was still a live album to make. Frey stayed in Los Angeles while the others worked on their parts in Miami. Frey would not join the overdub sessions, so the tapes were shuttled between the two cities.

Airbill · night 1 of 3

From: Los Angeles
To: Miami
Contents: One reel, high part

A drawing of the idea: three lines, three crossings. Which part travelled which night is not recorded here.

Three parts out of line. Frey is in Los Angeles; the others are in Miami.

October 1976

Five songs on Eagles Live were recorded at three Forum shows in October 1976, two months before Hotel California came out. The Forum is 3,763 km from Criteria as the crow flies.

Part of the Long Beach convention centre, with events through the year. Walk round the outside for the whale mural. The arena opened in 1962. Wyland’s mural Planet Ocean, 116,000 square feet of grey whales, was dedicated on 9 July 1992. Now the Kia Forum, a working concert arena. Buy a ticket for a show to go in.

Sources

The round Forum arena with tall white columns around a red wall, an empty car park in front — The Forum in Inglewood in 2014, its white columns round a red drum. Ritapepaj · CC BY-SA 3.0

A bronze statue of a man with a guitar on a street corner in front of a painted brick wall — The corner park in Winslow, Arizona: the bronze figure with a guitar and John Pugh’s mural behind him. Indy2 · Public domain

Second Street and Kinsley Avenue, Winslow · 1971–1972

The second verse.

Jackson Browne began Take It Easy in 1971, for his own first album, and got stuck. Frey offered to finish the second verse. Browne said he finished it in spectacular fashion.

Frey said the Winslow line came from a day Browne’s car broke down on a trip to Sedona and he was stuck in Winslow.

The town unveiled this corner park on 11 September 1999: a bronze man with a guitar by Ron Adamson, and a painted wall by John Pugh behind him. A life-size statue of Glenn Frey was added on 24 September 2016. Pugh repainted the mural in early 2023 without changing the design.

Free and lit at night, on Route 66 at Second Street and Kinsley Avenue. From I-40 take exit 252. 498 km east of Joshua Tree.

Sources

A painted two-storey shopfront wall with windows that reflect a street and a red pickup truck — John Pugh’s trompe-l’oeil mural on the corner in Winslow, 1998. John Pugh · CC BY-SA 4.0

La Posada Hotel

La Posada, Winslow

Winslow, Arizona

Fred Harvey’s last great railroad hotel, opened in 1930 to Mary Colter’s design, on old Route 66 and a walk from the corner park.

Check rates

The giant lit globe of Sphere among Las Vegas hotels at dusk, seen from high above — Sphere in Las Vegas, seen from the Strat tower in October 2023. Nigel Hoult · CC BY 2.0

2024–2026

Still in the desert.

Eagles began a residency at Sphere in September 2024. The first eight shows sold 131,000 tickets.

In February 2026 Henley said the band would stop at the end of that tour, and the residency was extended to December 2026. Shows were added on 13, 14, 27 and 28 November 2026. The last four, on 4, 5, 11 and 12 December 2026, brought the total to 68 Eagles shows, a Sphere record.

Eagles play their last announced Sphere shows on 13, 14, 27 and 28 November and 4, 5, 11 and 12 December 2026. 422 km from the corner.

Sources

Visit

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, from a club in West Hollywood to a corner in Winslow. Criteria is a working studio: see it from the street.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working club. Buy a ticket for a show to stand at the front bar, or look from Santa Monica Boulevard.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Part of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with ample parking: trails, picnics and what survives of Western Town.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel. Stay, or eat in one of its restaurants; the view of the cover is from the boulevard.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now the Kia Forum, a working concert arena. Buy a ticket for a show to go in.

The Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood. Gary Minnaert · Public domain
9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood
The Troubadour
Glenn Frey had come from Michigan and Don Henley from Texas; the two met at the Troubadour in 1970, through their record label, Amos.
A working club. Buy a ticket for a show to stand at the front bar, or look from Santa Monica Boulevard.
Sources
Western Town at Paramount Ranch, before the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (NPS) · Public domain
2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills
Paramount Ranch
Desperado, the second album, became a Western record built round the Doolin–Dalton gang.
Part of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, with ample parking: trails, picnics and what survives of Western Town.
Sources
The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in 2013. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0
9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills
The Beverly Hills Hotel
The Hotel California cover is a photograph of this hotel, taken by David Alexander just before sunset.
A working hotel. Stay, or eat in one of its restaurants; the view of the cover is from the boulevard.
Sources
The Forum in Inglewood in 2014, its white columns round a red drum. Ritapepaj · CC BY-SA 3.0
3900 West Manchester Boulevard, Inglewood
The Forum
Five songs on Eagles Live were recorded at three Forum shows in October 1976, two months before Hotel California came out.
Now the Kia Forum, a working concert arena. Buy a ticket for a show to go in.
Sources

Stay

The cover hotel, or a Route 66 one.

The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset, and La Posada in Winslow, a walk from the corner.

The Beverly Hills Hotel

Beverly Hills, California

The hotel on the Hotel California cover, open since 1912 at 9641 Sunset Boulevard: 210 rooms and suites and 23 bungalows.

Check rates

La Posada Hotel

La Posada, Winslow

Winslow, Arizona

Fred Harvey’s last great railroad hotel, opened in 1930 to Mary Colter’s design, on old Route 66 and a walk from the corner park.

Check rates

Go there