LONDON, Aug. 8, 2009
Abbey Road Mobbed On Photo's 40th Anniv.
Hundreds of Fans Cram Site of Iconic Snapshot Featured on Cover of Historic Beatles Album
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Play CBS Video Video Abbey Road Anniversary 40 years ago, The Beatles were putting the finishing touches on what would be their final album on Abbey Road. After photographing the album cover, they made history. Elizabeth Palmer reports.
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A tribute band dressed as the Beatles walks across the famous pedestrian crossing on Abbey Road in London, in a recreation of the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover, as hundreds of people gathered to mark the 40th anniversary of the album, Aug. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
Hundreds swarmed the site Saturday morning, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Abbey Road cuts through the swanky north London neighborhood of St. John's Wood, where the Fab Four recorded much of their work.
It became a part of music history after the Beatles were featured on the cover of the famous album of the same name walking on the street's crosswalk.
Tourists flock to the site every day, much to the annoyance of locals.
"I came to the legendary Abbey Road to walk in the foot steps of the Beatles," one fan summed it up for CBS News.
Traffic on Saturday was "unbelievable," reports CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. "When Beatles stand-ins showed up this morning in their trademark Rolls Royce to restage the iconic walk, you couldn't even see the world's most famous crosswalk because of stalled traffic and a crash of cameras."
Palmer points out that on Aug. 8, 1969 the Beatles were putting the finishing touches to what would be their final studio album at the EMI Studios on Abbey Road when they came out of the studio, crossed the street and made history.
Photographer Iain Macmillan's shot is still a favorite with fans.
Richard Porter, who runs the nearby Beatles Cafe, told Palmer, "He took six pics, pictures in all, three going one way across the street, three the other. The whole thing took ten minutes to do."
The photo has inspired countless imitators, from sincere flattery to affectionate spoofs, Palmer notes. It's also created a tourist magnet - or, depending on your point of view, "a traffic hazard as lasting as the Beatles legend itself."
Despite the crush of cars and people, Palmer says, "remarkably, everyone was in good humor, even the police, which only goes to show that the Beatles, 40 years later, can still generate peace and love!"
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- Good Grief. Couldn't they have found a thin guy to play George?
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- Peace & Love! Ah, where are the Beatles when we need them?
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- bonjour,
marcher sur la trace de leurs idoles; si cela tiens a coeur a tous ces fans
pourquoi pas..aprés tout..au revoir - Reply to this comment
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