Beatles Fans Swarm Abbey Road for 44th Anniversary
The Beatles‘ classic Abbey Road simply stands as one of the greatest albums of all time, and its memorable cover is equally iconic. As the LP’s 44th anniversary approaches (it was released in September 1969 in the U.K., and reached the U.S. a month later), fans have been swarming the famous street crossing immortalized on its artwork in greater numbers than usual, lining up on the North London crosswalk to have their own Abbey experience.
“It could have been very different, because the original title was going to be Everest,” Beatles tour guide Richard Porter told The Telegraph. “But someone suggested they go to Mount Everest to take the photo and they said, ‘No, we’re not doing that,’ so they took the photo out here virtually outside the studio.” The photo was snapped on August 8th, 1969.
Thousands of fans still gather at Abbey Road each year, leading Abbey Road Studios to set up a live webcam of the crossing so fans can keep an eye on others as they make the pilgrimage.
Local residents aren’t too happy with the location’s graffiti and masses of fans that hold up traffic, however. “There have been a couple of accidents in the past, luckily only minor ones, but drivers can get rather irate,” Porter said.
Still the lure of Abbey Road holds strong. “It’s actually their second-to-last photo session before they broke up,” Porter noted. “There’s people on the crossing virtually every minute of every day. . . it’s never-ending. If anything, it’s getting more popular.”