JOHN LENNON'S MOST MEMORABLE — AND NOTORIOUS — NYC MOMENTS
John Lennon came to New York City in the wake of Beatlemania and found refuge in the City That Doesn’t Care How Famous You Are. He quickly discovered that he could wander the streets, go to movies, and eat at restaurants without being bothered. He developed that specific city loyalty that’s unique to transplants, the gratitude that’s born out of the relief at finding the place you belong, and having that place embrace you wholeheartedly.
When John and Yoko arrived in 1971, they moved into the 17th floor of the St. Regis Hotel, but shortly abandoned their uptown luxury abode for a two-bedroom loft apartment in the West Village. 105 Bank Street soon became a locus of activity, both political and musical, with visitors from all along the spectrum coming at all hours of the day and night — including, of course, the FBI, who were investigating Lennon’s radicalism as grounds for deportation. John and Yoko had immediately gotten involved in a host of social causes, from the Vietnam War, to John Sinclair’s arrest for possession, to the Attica Prison riots. They hung out with the Yippies and the Black Panthers, and commemorated much of their life in the song “New York City” on Lennon and Ono’s Some Time In New York City album.
And, of course, American Beatlemania began seven years earlier right here in New York City, when John, Paul, George and Ringo stepped off a Pan Am flight at the newly-named JFK Airport and headed for the Ed Sullivan Show. They would play at Carnegie Hall, Forest Hills Stadium, and make history by playing Shea Stadium before retiring from live performance in 1966.
By: Caryn Rose
Source: The Village Voice
