Beatles-Platz

Beatles-Platz at the corner of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit has been, since 2008, the official memorial to the most important Hamburg chapter in the history of the most important band in pop: between August 1960 and December 1962, John, Paul, George, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best (later Ringo Starr) played a total of 281 nights on St. Pauli - at the Indra, Kaiserkeller, Top Ten Club and finally the Star-Club. Sometimes eight hours straight, seven nights a week. It was here that they turned from a school band into a live act capable of filling a stage. John Lennon's line: 'I might have been born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.' The square itself is laid out as an oversized vinyl record, with five rusted steel silhouettes of the band members set into the ground (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Best, Sutcliffe - Ringo appears only as a drum kit, since he joined after the Hamburg years). Around them, the 70 songs from the Beatles' Hamburg repertoire are etched in a list. Essential Beatles-fan walk: from Beatles-Platz down Große Freiheit, past the Indra (still a club, address: Große Freiheit 64) and the sign marking the former Kaiserkeller (Große Freiheit 36, today Trash). Getting there: S1/S3 Reeperbahn, then a 2-minute walk.