By Paul Iorio

American traffic obstructor, and author of this piece, blocking traffic on Abbey Road, August 11, 2025. 

Yes, for one glorious weekend this summer, I was that annoying American tourist in London looking the wrong way while crossing streets, using the wrong plug adapter in hotels and asking random locals where the Beatles walked Abbey Road back in the day. 

When I finally found the zebra crossing, I have to confess, at the risk of seeming like a cornball, a tear came to my eye.  After all, this was the place where some of the greatest music of the past hundred years was made, I thought, as I was nearly flattened by the Marble Arch bus.  

First thing I noticed is how narrow the crossing is.  The album makes it look like it's almost a grand boulevard or some such, but it's just an average, if pretty, residential street. 

Astonishing that the city of London has not monetized the crossing, charging admission, blocking off traffic and putting footprints of the four Beatles where they walked. There's no plaque, no sign, no indication whatsoever that This Is The Place.  These were my first thoughts.  

Also astonishing that the photo itself wasn't overthought by the photographer and the Fab Four in '69.  If they had had time to overdo it, they might have suggested, "What about if we were jaywalking across Abbey?"  Or, "How 'bout a scenario where we're almost hit by a car while crossing?" Or on and on.

Instead, just six shots by Iain Macmillan, August 8, 1969, at 11:30 am, from the perch of a step ladder, in a session that lasted around ten minutes (because they had to get back to the studio to overdub "The End").

Truth is, people actually do have genuine fun in this crosswalk; tourists take off their shoes, do funny dances and get creative in all sorts of ways as their friends snap shots.  [Check out the 24/7 Abbey Road live cam.  Abbey Road live cam]  

I don't think visitors take off their shirts and whoop it up when they see the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum.  In fact, it's a mostly dour crowd in some queues outside some of the main attractions -- full of people who are probably dying to visit Beatles landmarks.

Let's get real:  some of London's other traditional attractions are perhaps a bit overrated.  St. Paul's Cathedral, with all due respect to its historical significance, looks like a post office; the Palace of Westminster looks vaguely like a 19th century school for the blind (and is tonally at odds with the Ferris wheel nearby).  

And, yes, the Tube is efficient mass transit, though the seats look like they have been urinated on recently and most stations could use a paint job.  (Plus, you are always reminded to "mind the gap," the substantial chasm between the train and the platform in which you could easily lose your luggage or a small child.  (Here's an idea: why don't they fix the gap instead?  Maybe they should splurge on some cement for ramps.)   

St. John's Wood itself is one of those magic nabes where London really makes sense and seduces.  It can occasionally look like the visual equivalent of a Beatles song (as opposed to some parts of outlying London that look like a dandified west Oakland, California, without guns, but no less menacing).  (And it looks like the same ten guys are in charge of creating the same style of graffiti on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  But I digress.)

All told, it's the ecosystem that created an incomparable beauty that will likely last centuries.  A visit, even if you live in the area and have taken it for granted, is a great way to note the 55th anniversary of the death of the Beatles this year -- and to celebrate the release of the fourth volume of the band's "Anthology" recordings and the ninth installment in its video series this fall.

Brits who pass by the area every day probably think nothing of it -- the way I cross the intersection of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco every month or so without thinking much about the Grateful Airplane or the Summer of Love.  But to this Yank, it was worth the price of my window seat on United. 

               

A crowd waiting to make the crossing, August 10, 2025.  [photo credit:  Paul Iorio.]

A driver showing off his 1920's Bentley at the crossing. [photo credit:  Paul Iorio]  

The sign and gate in front of Abbey Road Studios.  [photo credit:  Paul Iorio]

The sign for The Abbey Road Shop has a wide range of graffiti.  [photo by Paul Iorio]

The graffiti in front of the studio is a mix of Beatles and personal messages.  [photo by Paul Iorio]

The Fabs welcome you upon arrival at Heathrow.  [photo by paul iorio.]