LONDON — It was 50 years ago today, that The Beatles caused a traffic delay.
And hundreds of fans of the Fab Four gathered Thursday at a crosswalk in London’s St. John’s Wood neighborhood immortalized on the “Abbey Road” album to recreate the cover photo half a century after it was taken.
At 11:35 a.m. on Aug. 8, 1969, Iain Macmillan photographed John, Paul, George and Ringo striding single-file across the black-and-white “zebra” crossing outside Abbey Road Studios while a police officer stopped traffic.
Used as the cover of the band’s penultimate studio album, it became one of the most famous images in music history.
On Thursday spectators snapped photos on cellphones and lookalikes from a Beatles cover band crossed the street in tribute to the original image.
The spot remains a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans from around the world.
“Every hour of every day there are fans on the crossing,” said Beatles tour guide Richard Porter, who organized Thursday’s commemoration. “I’ve seen lots of different sights on the crossing, too, from couples having their wedding photos taken to people going across naked.”
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