We headed over to Strawberry Field, a place I wanted to make sure we visited. Strawberry Field is located on Beaconsfield Road, a narrow heavily traveled road. Strawberry Field is near the intersection with Menlove Ave, about a block from Mendips.
This is the famous gate at the entrance to Strawberry Field. Lennon and his childhood friends used to play in the garden behind the home on the site.
Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army Children's Home beginning in 1936. The original home was demolished and replaced with a new home for the children in the 1970s.
The gate was a new replacement gate installed just one week before we were at the site, according to Kevin.
The gentleman who built the replacement gates was allowed to place a card on the wall. As you can see, vandals have already scratched it.
Here is our guide Kevin giving us more details and doing a fantastic job.
Here is a clearer photo of the original home.
The Salvation Army closed the children's home in 2005 and the site is now used as a church
But what he told me next shocked me: there are plans to sell the land to a developer who plans to put condominiums on the lot. !!!
The site still has a very magical quality to it, even though there were cars whizzing by right behind me as I took this photo.
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever.
Vandals have already written their name on the new gate. The story goes that Mimi would get mad that John would run off and play in Strawberry Field. He would get in trouble when he returned home, which is where the line "nothing to get hung about" came from in the song. And John added an 's' to the end of the name.
I hope the city of Liverpool comes to it's senses and buys the land for preservation. Putting condos here would be a travesty.
4 comments:
Kevin and the Fab Four Taxi Tour no nothing, no way are they building condos on Strawberry Field. Another nonsence by this unofficial tour.
(1) A quote from The Guardian, May 10, 2011: "The long-term future of Strawberry Field is still to be determined by the Salvation Army, which is looking into developing a centre for children and young people with learning disabilities". I guess in a sense those could be considered condos, depends on your definition of the word 'condo' - though it probably isn't covered by the normal definition since the units would likely not be individually owned.
(2) it would be "know nothing", not "no nothing". Also, it's "nonsense" not "nonsence".
(3) If by "unofficial" you mean not endorsed by the Beatles (of which only two survive), I'm perfectly fine with that. Don't really need their endorsement to be shown the sites. And I thought Fab Four did an excellent job. Highly recommended!
Hi there J .. this a great blog! I did the tour and stuff - got friends that live there that I go and stay with. I don't know if it's my browser, but I can't read past the first paragraph of the gates bit - Q for you please then ..the gates when I went ..I think 2008 ..but not sure ..Liverpool beat us in the cup 5-0 - we went to the game. Anyway, the gates were stolen - oxy/acetylene gas cut off! ...and then they were found and welded back on ..I believe. So did you find out that the gates were replaced as a precaution and the original gates are safe in storage or some exhibit ....? Or were they stolen again ..maybe never to return? Love you stuff on Sandiego - I go to stay with another friend from Poway. All the best to you ....Darren
Hi Darren, the formatting on some posts had become corrupted at some point. I think I've fixed it all now - hope it is easier to read.
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