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Magical history tour: tracing the Beatles' footsteps through London

By Steve Plesa
Orange County Register

LONDON - Three things about people in London: They all have straight hair, they all smoke and they don't remember the Beatles.
I exaggerate - the Rastafarians have curly hair.
But in a city where plaques and statues and museums and tours commemorate everyone from George Eliot to Jack the Ripper, the four lads-who-wanted-desperately-to-get-the-heck-out-of-Liverpool qualify for not the slightest public memorial.
And that's where the fun begins.
"There aren't any Gracelands in England," a record-shop owner told me. What? No lines to stand in? No tickets to buy? T-shirts? Life-size cardboard cutouts to mug with? Not even a framed rendering on velour?
Nope. What's left of the legacy of pop culture's most profound and enduring symbols - not to forget that they made some of the best music of the last two centuries - is ghostly and fascinating.
A new book called "The Beatles' London" (St. Martin's Press, $10.95) provided me with an excellent start point and a wealth of facts - a guide to where the Beatles lived, worked and played in the city, and it is an invaluable tool for any Beatle fan - you also don't have to go to London to enjoy it.
But a trip there helps. As the book's authors put it, "It is worth remembering that, though the Beatles traversed the globe, they remained resiliently British ... they will always be associated with Liverpool, but their success called them to London, and that is where they stayed."
Another part of the book says that in fact, London was the real fifth Beatle. And you thought it was Tiny Tim all this time.
That was enough for me. Armed with the book, tips from friends, a "London Access" book and a pair of good shoes, I walked the streets of the city and soaked up enough Beatle history to last until the vaults open again and spill out more anthology material, as they will this month.

5-6 ARGYLL ST.

An equally unassuming, in a chrome-and-glass-lobby sort of way, building next door to the Palladium. This is where Brian Epstein opened shop in 1964 on the fifth floor, perhaps banking on some of the good fortune that happened next door to rub off. It was in these offices that John Lennon told an interviewer that the Beatles were bigger than Christ, which, given the muted feel of the tiny street, probably seemed innocuous enough but which also produced an angry, record-burning backlash around the world. Oops!

9 KINGLY ST.

Ah, that rascal Paul. The Cute One seems to have been quite the man about town, as he is reported to have been something of a club-hopper. He hopped into the basement of a club on this even tinier street in 1967 to see a great band of the time, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, and met Linda Eastman, who up until that point had taken a lot of not-so-hot photos of rock stars and would go on to become Paul's wife and food-tester. All that's there now is a street that seems ... to ... be ... getting ... tinier and tinier ... and a blue door. The club was called the Bag o' Nails and was a popular hip spot in the late '60s that saw a lot of pop-star action. It's fun to imagine the boys sneaking in and out in the wee hours, under cover of ... tininess.

31 COVENTRY ST.

You have to force yourself into the cartoon madness of Picadilly Square to get to the next stop (after passing Carnaby Street, an utterly commercial, unhip letdown). Go past the Rock Circus, a Madame Tussaud spinoff that has an utterly garish and weird Beatles segment. The building has historical value, because it was the site of the world premieres of their four movies: "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" "Yellow Submarine" (they attended the first three; "Let it Be," the sad witness to their breakup, didn't attract a one of them, no surprise). But yes, push on, push on. You're still in the overblown, noisy, bloated-building nuttiness surrounded by cars and people spinning in all directions, when you come upon the Prince of Wales Theatre. It has a dignified, dirty, worn stateliness to it compared with its neighbors. And a wonderful memory deep within. It was here, in 1963, that the band performed before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, and before the final song, a raucous, bluesy "Twist and Shout," Lennon, ever loquacious, said: "For this number we'd like to ask your help. Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." You can't help but smile as you stand on the street and look up at the place.

39 COVENTRY ST.

This is really memorable. This hotel, now called the Hospitality Inn, is where the Beatles came for a drink after their legendary performance at the Prince of Wales in front of royalty. The hotel was then called the Mapleton and the bar was then on the first floor. But go in to the bar, now on the ground floor - five seats at the bar, one for each of them and one for you. It's soooo quiet, compared with the noise outside. Think about what these four guys from nowhere must have talked about after the show ... "We played in front of the queen" ... "We're on our way" ... "John, you're a funny guy, but don't ever compare us to Jesus or anything in the future, OK? Promise?"

3 SAVILE ROW

Another eerie, misty silence greeted me as I stood across the street from this Beatles shrine. An occasional car passed, a child's laugh echoed in the cold distance. The chill wind fluttered around me. A fitting mood of hush and reverance for the former headquarters of Apple Corps.
The subtle, flat Georgian architectural style. The door (not the original, long since completely graffitied by fans and removed, reputedly to the Dakota in New York, where Yoko still lives).
The roof.
This was where the Beatles gave their last public performance, on Jan. 30, 1969, filmed partly for "Let It Be." It was one of the few moments in that otherwise wistful, sad movie where they actually had fun together, playing with great enthusiasm and punch. Bewildered British businessmen wandered below, hearing the band pound out "Get Back" and wondering what was going on (the street is home to several sophisticated men's clothiers).
Look, here comes one now!
I asked the very steady, studied British businessman if he knew what had happened here in 1969.
"No idea."
"The Beatles played their last performance here. Up on the roof."
"The roof?" he asked. "Why?"
Welcome to London.

34 MONTAGUE SQUARE

From the sublime to the depressing. Ringo leased the ground floor and basement of this place on Montague Square. In the winter, it's a cold, dark, unkempt area - certainly not dangerous but definitely not interesting or lively, except for the Beatle angle. Ringo occasionally let this place out to others, among them Jimi Hendrix ("The Wind Cries Montague?") and John and Yoko. John, ever one to flirt with controversy, had the bare-naked shots from the "Two Virgins" album taken here with Yoko, and it was also here in October 1968 that he and his high-pitched mate were busted for marijuana. A really crummy, depressing place to get busted. After the yin of Apple, you need this yang. I asked a neighbor walking the street if he knew what had happened, etc. and you know the answer.

3 ABBEY ROAD

The bulk of the music we know today was recorded here. You can't get in, so don't try. Read the scribblings from the fans on the white walls outside, walk the crosswalk (but be careful, for heaven's sake; it's a darn busy street and the British in their cars of course have no idea that you are making a pilgrimage because they have no idea what happened there). Just stand and let the music go through your head. It's a House of Genius.
"The Beatles' London" has an interesting take on the famous photo session that took place here in 1969. The photographer posed the boys in different ways, walking them in different formations across the street. The picture, while defining a cultural moment, is also interesting because as a band they were just about quits and you watch them striding so purposefully, so independently. So different from the jillions of photos from the past that always portrayed them as sort of four parts of a hairy molecule, always stuck together.
Wouldn't it have been fun if the alternate poses were more interactive, such as, "OK, this time, Paul, who is dead, is in front walking on his hands while Ringo, who would like to be dead because when the band breaks up he will have nothing to do, stands on Paul's feet. George and John will clutch arms and have canes and top hats and will execute a sideways vaudevillian exit behind Paul and Ringo. All will grin widely." By the by, look at this picture and realize that these guys are still all in their 20s.

38-52 WOBURN PLACE

For me, one of the most interesting places on the tour. This is the site of the former Royal Hotel, where the Beatles stayed on one of their first and most important visits to London ever. The hotel is no longer a hotel, instead a sad, rundown, yellow-curtained old relic, soon to be torn down. The Beatles came here basically to rest up for an audition the following morning - Jan. 1, 1962, at Decca Records. Ringo wasn't in the band; the kit was helmed by Pete Best, who was noted for hammering out the same plodding surf-style beat on every song. The term Drab Four could apply to the Best era for some, and indeed it did to the folks at Decca, because, exercising foresight and sound business judgment, they proclaimed that guitar bands were dead, the demo stunk (in a way it did, but it's a crucial part of the archives) and they weren't interested in these kids. EMI Records was, Pete got the boot and the rest is history, except of course in London. Stand outside this touching, frail building and picture what it was like - how nervous they must have been, were they singing, practicing, could they sleep?

62-72 RUSSELL SQUARE

The Beatles were photographed in the early '60s all over Russell Square - in the square itself standing on the fountain, in the middle of Montague Place, which almost became their first album cover, etc. The President is a fitting end to this humble tour. The Beatles lived here in summer 1963, doing their BBC shows, recording (the "She Loves You"/"I'll Get You" single and most of their second album, "With the Beatles," including "All My Loving," "All I've Got to Do," "It Won't Be Long," "Please Mister Postman" and "Little Child") and essentially waiting to explode and become more famous than anyone else in the world. In the '60s, the President was a first-rate modern hotel; today, even after refurbishing, it feels like a place that was a first-rate hotel in the '60s. Big, wide lobby and meeting rooms, bland piped-in music, lots of shiny oak and faux gold trim.
In the tiny bar, I asked the very young bartender if she knew who had stayed here in 1963. She didn't, of course, and I showed her the book and we talked a little about what it must have been like.
"You know," I said, full of my Beatles knowledge, "the first time they came to London they stayed in that dumpy old depressing Royal Hotel down the street."
"Thank you very much," she said in a taut Irish accent, "that's where I live."
Oops.
"So what room did they stay in at the Royal?" she asked. Hmmm. Maybe you had to insult them to get them interested.
No matter that in the next breath she told me she was a big Garth Brooks fan and wanted to go to Nashville.
A fitting end to this tale. London shoulders on, grand and proud, living alongside its history. The Beatles may have changed lives all over the world in small and large ways, but they didn't change London. And that's the best part about trodding their back streets and thinking about their lives here. You've got it all to yourself. Yoko Ono Becomes Chess Team's Guardian Queen By Robert Polner Newsday
NEW YORK - Yoko Ono Thursday came to the rescue of a New York City high school chess team in distress, turning its desperation into a dream come true.
After reading about the students in a Newsday story, the widow of slain Beatles star John Lennon wrote out a personal check for $2,500 to the top-rated Edward R. Murrow High School team so it can participate in the state and national championship tournaments.
Her generosity means that the Brooklyn chess team will be able to pay the travel and tournament expenses after all.
The team members, national champs from 1992 to 1994, had given up hope of attending either tournament for lack of funds from the city's Board of Education.
Ono, an inveterate chess player, turned the team's blues into rock 'n' roll after reading about its financial woes in the newspaper.
'Yoko felt it funny, or ironical, that a school wouldn't have money for something as educational as chess,' said Sam Havattoy, the multimedia artist's assistant. 'It's ridiculous. That's the whole point. That's what moved her to respond.'
Ono, who has a new critically received album, 'Rising,' finds time to play chess virtually every day, Havattoy said, adding that it relaxes and exercises her mind.
'You know, she likes to say that chess is the one thing that can keep kids off drugs for sure,' Havattoy said. 'If you do drugs, you can't play, because you can't keep your concentration, and chess has a lot to do with concentration.'
A few weeks ago, after winning the New York City championship, the team was invited to meet Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Some of the teen-agers had hoped the meeting would reverse their fiscal fortunes woes, what with the state tournament scheduled to begin this weekend in White Plains and the national championship starting in April in Somerset, N.J.
A few students even made mention of the predicament. The team needed a total $3,000 to pay for the van, hotel, food and fees.
Reporters jotted notes that day. But no money would materialize, except a $500 donation from the teachers union and $150 in proceeds from the students' sales of candy and
'We're No. 1' stickers.
Early Thursday morning, Ono's office contacted Newsday. She wanted help in contacting the team. Within an hour, the check was written.
'I'm thrilled, overwhelmed,' said Eliot Weiss, Murrow High chess team adviser and math teacher.
His students expressed gratitude for their guardian angel.
'This is really nice,' said Grigoriy Brayloskiy, the 16-year-old team leader whose father was a school chess coach when the family lived in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic.
Pausing, Brayloskiy added, 'You know, in the outside world, there is a stereotype that Americans are very greedy and only care about themselves. This really shows us that some Americans - New Yorkers too - do care about other people.'