Beatlemania (#8)

Let me tell you about my dear friend, Pam. We met in college at UCSB in 1974, we share the same birthday (so we are twins from another mother!), we are godmothers to each other's kids, I love her dearly...and she is the biggest Beatles fan I have ever met! Here is a photo of me, Gary and Pam from about a million years ago...(well, maybe 48 years ago!)

Well, a few years ago, Pam and her husband travelled to Liverpool, and her enthusiasm and excitement wore off on me. I swore that the next time we planned a trip to England, we would come to Liverpool, so here we are! Gary and I had an uneventful train trip from York westward to Liverpool. Well, actually, we took the train from York to Manchester. There we had to board what they call a "replacement bus" to continue to Liverpool since they were doing work on the train tracks! It all worked out very smoothly though and we checked into the Ibis at Albert Dock in Liverpool. Ibis hotels are cheap, small and clean. We have stayed in this chain in the past in Edinburgh, Paris/Orly Airport, and Colmar. No frills, but they serve their purpose!

We have booked 2 tours in Liverpool...first up is our Fab 4 taxi tour!

We were picked up at ours hotel by Jimmy our guide. He is a black cab driver, who also leads Fab 4 tours, and he proved to be quite a character! First he took us to the Hard Days Night Hotel where he showed us an iconic photo behind the bar, then walked to the Cavern Club...back in the cab and saw some sights in Liverpool, heading to the Art School where Paul and John went, then headed to various homes Paul, John, Ringo and George lived in during their youth. We made stops at Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Eleanor Rigby's grave, St John's church hall where John originally asked Paul to join his band (really the genesis of the Beatles)...and so much more! It was a lot packed into 3 hours...with a constant Beatles soundtrack playing in the cab. Jimmy was great about pulling up to sites, parking (legally or not!), letting us get out, taking photos of us, etc. Turns out Jimmy is kind of a ham and loved posing for photos, so I think I have more photos with Jimmy in them than I do of Gary and me! Jimmy had tons of obscure little facts about "the boys" as he called them. If you haven watched it already, I would really suggest watching the James Cordon "Carpool Karaoke" show with Paul McCartney - it's fabulous seeing Paul come back to his old haunts in Liverpool! (And Jimmy took us to several of them).

There was a lot of football (soccer) talk too...Jimmy had played for the Liverpool team, and his son is a coach for them, and his 17 year old grandson is on the Liverpool developmental team but has some torn thigh muscles...Jimmy kept saying "God willing he can heal and play". There are 2 football team in Liverpool (Liverpool and Everton) and Jimmy's wife roots for the other team. He did admit that when "Red/Everton plays Blue/Liverpool...I root for Red (his wife's team) because happy wife is a happy life"

Our intrepid guide and driver, Jimmy!

This is Cila Black, a coat girl at the Cavern Club who later went on to have her own successful singing career. She was much beloved by all the musicians. And it was Cila who first cut the boys hair into the haircuts they were famous for.

Jimmy's cab is named Penny Lane. There are 17 (I think) of these black cabs, all named after different Beatles songs, doing Beatles tours. Since the cabbies all own their own cabs, and most cabbies are a tad older...so are the cabs. There is another company with snazzy electric cabs that offer Beatles tours also...they might be more comfortable and have better sound systems, but I liked Jimmy and his old black cab!!

This photo over the ban in the Hard Days Night Hotel was taken at Paul's 21st birthday celebration. We see the birthday boy in the light trousers, Brian Epstein is in the lower right corner, and other Liverpool bands are with them celebrating (Gerry and the Pacemakers of "Ferry Cross The Mersey" fame, the Quarry Men, and more.

I'm pointing at Paul's signature (but you can't really see it). Paul signed this sign during the James Cordon show I mentioned. All the metal street signs keep getting stolen...this is the only remaining original painted street sign on Penny Lane.

We posed in front of the gates at Strawberry Field (who knows why John added an "s" to field in the song?! It was a children's orphanage that John was a bit obsessed by as a child, looking in the gate at the children. He had ben abandoned by his mom (his aunt raised him) so he identified with these orphans. For years John and Yoko partially funded the orphanage, ensuring every child had good food, clothing, and a Christmas gift. Eventually the orphanage burned down. It became abandoned and overgrown. Some years later the Salvation Army along with John and Yoko built a "peace" center there which was lovely and tranquil. There is a cafe in it which the Salvation Army runs providing work training for developmentally disabled young adults. We had tea and a sweet here. Apparently the gates at Strawberry Field kept getting stolen by Beatles fans, so this is actually a replace/replica gate we are standing in from of.

Some years ago, a guy bought some red gates on EBay that he assumed were replica gates...when it turned out that they were the ORIGINAL gates, he donated them the the Strawberry Field Peace Center and Jimmy insisted we also pose infant of the "real" gates!

The Peace Center with the cafe, and meeting/lecture rooms, and gift shop.

There is a bandstand on the grounds where they have small concerts, educational programs, etc. The floor of the bandstand is a (smaller) replica of what is in NY Central Park in the Strawberry Fields there and there is a fun mural here with all sorts of people illustrated (Salvation Army Band, St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Elton John, George Michael, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and on and on. The building in the back of the mural is the original orphanage that stood on the grounds.

There were quite a few benches around the facility that were salvaged and made from remains of the original burned down orphanage.

We saw lots of homes where "the boys" lived over the years. This was the home George lived in a a young child...its the one with the round blue plaque at the top - the street is chained off. In addition to the taxi tours like ours, there are huge double decker buses that run "Magical Mystery Tours"...and apparently the residents of this street got sick and tired of the hoards filling their short street multiple times a day, so now access is limited to residents only.

One of the homes where Paul lived. His mom was a public health nurse and they moved frequently, whenever she was posted at a new ward.

John was raised by his Aunt Mimi in this house from 1945-63...he and Paul wrote many songs here. It is now a Historic Trust property and has been replicated inside exactly as it was when John lived here...like a walk back in time!

This is a mother house John lived in. It has been vacant for many years, although somebody bought it and renovated it inside, nobody ever moved in. Apparently neighbors called for a welfare check...it turns out Yoko was the buyer. She has never lived in, not allowed friends or family to stay here. She has never promoted it as a tourist or historical attraction. Jimmy thinks its just her private connection to John...but who knows.

Ringo's childhood home. This entire block has been modernized/gentrified, but they left Ringo's window sill as original. All the other window sills have been rebuilt and pained white. Ringo's is actually all chipped, because over the years, fans have chipped pieces off for souvenirs.