Explore the Beatles' Traces in St. Pauli
The Beatles First Home in Hamburg - Bambi Cinema
The movie theatre that was the Beatles' first home in Hamburg's notorious Reeperbahn district is hidden in a quiet side street of St. Pauli. The Fab Four stayed in two dimly lit, windowless rooms next to the cinema's mens toilet. The musicians slept on disused army bunks, their washing facility was the hand wash basin in the neighbouring toilet. Today, a photograph attached to the wall shows, that nonetheless these rusty conditions, the Beatles had a lot of fun.
Paul-Roosen-Strasse 33, St. Pauli
Music Clubs the Beatles Played at
Today there are still three music clubs the Beatles played at. Their first guest performance was in Indra on 17 August 1960. With Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe on bass guitar, the Beatles played four and a half hours for 15 Euros (30 DM) a day. From October 4 1960, they played at Kaiserkeller / Große Freiheit 36 to an already bigger audience. Another club they played at was the Moondoo, today a chique club for electronic music, back than the club Top 10 at Reeperbahn.
Paul McCartneys Hangout - Gretel & Alfons
Ship models at the bar, a little plush, a compass, an engine telegraph - the name promises homey neighborhood atmosphere: Gretel & Alfons, a Hamburg-based local at Grosse Freiheit number 29. This is where Paul McCartney lived in 1962, leaving a big tab debt behind. In 1989 Paul McCartney revisited his "neighborhood living room" and even paid his debt after 27 years with "compound interest".
Große Freiheit 29, St. Pauli
Original Photos at St. Pauli Museum
In the St. Pauli Museum visitors get an insight into the development of this extraordinary district. Covering an area of 160m², the development of the district from the Middle Ages can be seen to the present day. Many exhibits paint a vivid picture of the history of the district to this day. Of course the Beatles are a big part of that story which is presented with many original photographs from that time:
Hein Hoyer Strasse 56, St. Pauli
Stefanie Hempels Beatles Tour
Stefanie Hempel is the originator of the musical Beatles-Tour in Hamburg. Follow her on the tracks of the Fab Four across the famous red light district of St. Pauli!
Star Club
The Star Club opened in Hamburg on 13th April 1962 and it brought Rock'n Roll and Beat Music to Germany. Amongst the stars playing gigs there were Tony Sheridan, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles and of course The Beatles. The Fab Four played three guest seasons at Grosse Freiheit 39 and became more popular with every booking. In the 1980s, the Star Club burned down - today a memorial plate in the back of Große Freiheit 39 remembers these glory days.
Hinterhof Große Freiheit 39
Beatles Tour Hamburg
The Beatles tour takes place from Thursday to Sunday at 5 pm. It is a sightseeing trip on one hand and a fascinating time travel through the famous Hamburg Days of the Beatles on the other hand. First hand informations are provided from a tourguide who grew up in the St. Pauli aera in the Fifties and Sixties and who witnessed the Beatles background and the other now famous bands in person. He was a regular and autograph hunter in the Star-Club, the Top-Ten-Club, the Kaiserkeller and many other clubs during those years. Since these days he got in contact with many legends of the Sixties and cultivated a friendship with musicians, staff of the clubs and makers of the scene from that shaping epoch lasting until today!
Waxwork Beatles at Panoptikum
The Panoptikum in Hamburg is Germany's oldest and biggest waxworks museum. It was founded in 1879 by the wood carver Friedrich Hermann Faerber on Spielbudenplatz 3 on the Reeperbahn and has since been owned by the family. Currently, the panopticon is run by Hayo Faerber, the great-grandson of the founder, and his daughter Susanne Faerber. The panopticon has today more than 130 figures of historical figures in valuable costumes, international celebrities and Hamburger Stars - and of course The Beatles.
Beatles Square
The Beatles-Platz (German: Beatles Square/Plaza) is a plaza in the St. Pauli quarter in Hamburg, Germany, at the crossroads of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit. It is circular, with a diameter of 29 metres (95 ft) and paved black to make it look like a vinyl record. Surrounding the place are five statues, representing The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe, George Harrison, and a hybrid of drummers Pete Best and Ringo Starreach of whom played with The Beatles at times during their Hamburg engagements.