Millions of people have made the pilgrimage to the Abbey Road crosswalk to have their photo taken and pay tribute to the Beatles.
Today, it's your turn to learn more about this place.
Here we go!
Abbey Road crosswalk: article summary
Where exactly is the Abbey Road crosswalk?
Before the arrival of the Beatles, Abbey Road's main claim to fame was being a stone's throw from the cricket pitch.
The crossing is located at the southern end of Abbey Road, at the junction with Grove End Road, in the St John's Wood area of north-west London.
The album wasn't called Abbey Road at all
At the end of the album sessions, the four Beatles discussed the record's title. One idea was to call it "Everest" after the cigarettes engineer Geoff Emerick smoked during the sessions.
The original plan was for the cover photo to be taken in the Himalayas to illustrate the title. The idea was abandoned and a simpler plan was decided upon: have the photo taken outside the studio and call it Abbey Road!
For the only time in their career, the Beatles presented the world with an album cover that didn't include their name or the title of the main song.
Abbey Road crosswalk: the Beatles photographed walking away from the studio
The Beatles' Let It Be album was released in May 1970, but the tracks had been recorded over a year earlier. Abbey Road was the last set of tracks produced by the four Beatles.
In fact, the last session in which John, Paul, George and Ringo Their studio collaboration took place on August 20, 1969.
The photo chosen for the cover shows the four crossing the road with Abbey Road Studios behind them. You can actually see the studios - it's the white building on the left of the photo.
Lennon leads the band, which is also important in that he was the first member to leave the Beatles for good.
A busy road
Road traffic wasn't the same 50 years ago, but Abbey Road was still a busy thoroughfare, which meant that photographer Iain Macmillan had little time to take his picture.
A policeman stopped traffic as Macmillan climbed a stepladder in the middle of the road. The group crossed the road three times while Macmillan took his shots.
Paul McCartney decided which photo to use to immortalize the album and the now-famous crosswalk.
The back cover photo is from the other end of Abbey Road
Anyone looking for the sign pictured on the back cover of Abbey Road will have a difficult task ahead of them.
Beatles specialists determined that the sign's location was at the other end of the road, at the junction of Abbey Road and Alexandra Road, near South Hampstead station.
What's more, the neighborhood was redeveloped in 1972 to make way for the Alexandra and Ainsworth subdivision, which opened in 1978.
Why is Paul McCartney barefoot on the cover of Abbey Road?
According to designer John Kosh, the reason he took off his shoes was because they were too tight.
August 8, 1969 was a particularly sunny day, and Macca lived on the corner of St John's Wood, so he walked to the studios in sandals.
For a joke, he crossed the road several times without shoes, so this has nothing to do with a "clue" to his death as one crazy theory suggests.
Today, the Abbey Road pedestrian walkway has become a national monument, attracting fans from all walks of life. During your trip to London, I recommend that you make a detour to this place and try to reproduce this famous cliché.
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