Now and Then - The Beatles in Hamburg - The Top Ten Club (former)

"The Top Ten Club was a music club in Hamburg's St. Pauli district at Reeperbahn 136, which opened on 31 October 1960 and kept its name until 1994. In 1961, the Beatles performed 92 times at the Top Ten Club. History At the beginning of the 20th century, Reeperbahn 136 was the location of the Grand Hippodrom and Café of Carl Richter[1] Later it was called Hippodrom[2][3] and belonged, together with the bar, to Herbert Eckhorn.[4] In 1960, the heir to the hippodrome, Peter Eckhorn (* 12 February 1939 in Hamburg; † 19 May 1979), decided to close the hippodrome, rebuild it and reopen it with a new name as a music club.[5] The Top Ten Club was opened on 31 October 1960 by Peter Eckhorn and his manager Horst Fascher.[6] After disagreements, Peter Eckhorn separated from Horst Fascher shortly afterwards. Fascher then worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the Große Freiheit, where he persuaded Manfred Weissleder to turn the former Stern cinema into a music club, the Star-Club, becoming his manager.[7] The Beatles, who, until 31 December 1960, were under contract with Bruno Koschmider, the owner of Kaiserkeller, often visited Top Ten Club, where Tony Sheridan performed with his Jets. They also played together occasionally, which Bruno Koschmider found out about. On November 21, 1960 George Harrison was deported to England by the police, because at the age of 17 he was too young to work in a nightclub after midnight. It is assumed that it was Bruno Koschmider who tipped off the police because he was annoyed that the Beatles were unfaithful to him and wanted to switch to the Top Ten Club. So, Harrison had to go back to Liverpool.[8][9][10] On 29 November 1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested for attempted arson. They were said to have set fire to a condom when they packed their personal belongings in Bruno Koschmider's Bambi cinema, were they slept, to bring them to the Top Ten Club.[11] Best and McCartney spent three hours in the Davidwache Police Station, and were deported on 1 December 1960.[12] Lennon on 10 December and Sutcliffe in February 1961, also returned to Liverpool.[13] Plaque on Beatles-Platz, commemorating the discovery of the Beatles and Sheridan in the Top Ten Club by Kaempfert and Schacht The Beatles appeared back at the Top Ten Club with Tony Sheridan from 1 April 1 to 1 July 1961. The Beatles and Tony Sheridan performed continuously for 92 nights in the Top Ten Club. It should have been exactly 503 hours on stage.[14] They played seven hours a night, eight hours at weekends. There was a fifteen-minute pause after each hour.[15] Each member of The Beatles were to be paid 35 deutschmarks.[16] Peter Brüchmann [de] documented the Beatles' visit to the Top Ten Club in 1961. The reportage did not appear in Quick until 1966.[17] Gerd Mingram [de] photographed the Beatles by chance when he commissioned a trade union newspaper in Ten Club Top. Some of the photos were sold, in mid-seventies, for 30,000 pounds to Paul McCartney.[18][better source needed] From 1994 there has been about ten changes of ownership, and the club name changed just as often. The names adopted were: MC-Music Club,[21] new Top Ten Club, Soap Opera, The Irish Harp, La Cage[22] (1997 to 2001), Titty Twister (a name based on the bar Titty Twister in the film From Dusk Till Dawn, from 2002 to 2003),[23] Golden Stars (2003),[24] Glam (2003 to 2005)[25] and La Rocca (2005 to 2006).[26] Since 2008 the name has been moondoo,[22] and the operator is "Lago Bay Betriebsgesellschaft mbH".[27] In 1994, the London Club Dome, in Tufnell Park in the London Borough of Islington district, was transformed into the Top Ten Club for the film Backbeat.[28]" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_Ten_Club

Now and Then- The Beatles in Hamburg - Bambi Cinema - The Beatles’ first place to stay in Hamburg

#thebeatles #hamburg 00:00:00 Getting to the Bambi Kino 00:00:22 Gretel & Alfons: https://youtu.be/uXkqIAZdhhE 00:00:58 Star Club Hamburg : https://youtu.be/flNYHIMYnnU 00:01:12 Kaiserkeller - Große Freiheit 36 00:02:11 Indra MusikClub : https://youtu.be/geeO183_2AM 00:02:37 Bambi Kino (Cinema) - The Beatles’ first place to stay in Hamburg "Not exactly a five-star hotel: this is what the young Beatles must have thought when moving into their first digs in Hamburg. It comprised two rooms in a children's cinema, situated just next to the projector room and with the men's toilet serving as a bathroom – certainly an inconspicuous place to stay for these soon-to-be shining stars of music. The Bambi cinema was located on Paul-Roosen-Strasse, a quiet side street only a few metres away from the hustle and bustle of the Reeperbahn. Today, only a garage with a drawing of Bambi reminds us of a location steeped in music history. The cinema was then owned by Bruno Koschmider, who had brought the Beatles, young amateurs at the time, to Hamburg for their first gigs. To save the young men the cost of accommodation, he put them up in two small rooms on the premises of his children’s cinema. Living in the Bambi cinema was certainly anything but luxurious. The dark, windowless rooms were shared between the four of them, with worn-out army bunks to sleep on and only a sink to wash in rather than a shower. Plus, there was no peace and quiet as the film screenings for the little ones would often start in the morning hours – when George, John, Paul and Stuart had just about returned from their gigs and would have been desperate for a sleep-in. A characteristic photo of the Fab Four from that time has now been put up outside the building on 33 Paul-Roosen-Strasse: the four lads with big grins on their faces, and in their hands the pills that enabled them to just about survive these almost sleepless nights – the stimulant Preludin." - https://www.hamburg-travel.com/see-explore/sightseeing/bambi-cinema/ " The Beatles’ second day in Hamburg Thursday 18 August 1960 Following their first performance at the Indra Club, The Beatles stayed at venue owner Bruno Koschmider’s flat in Hamburg. The next day he took them to the Bambi-Filmkunsttheater at 33 Paul-Roosen Strasse. The Beatles were unsure why they were being shown around the deserted cinema, which showed little but old Westerns, until Koschmider led them to a filthy room behind the screen. Koschmider told the group, via his interpreter Herr Steiner, that this was to be The Beatles’ home during their Hamburg stay. We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them. The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not a lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, like little camp beds, with not very many covers. We were frozen. Paul McCartney Anthology Koschmider also pointed out the cinema toilet, telling them it was where they were to wash. " We were put in this pigsty, like a toilet it was, in a cinema, a rundown sort of fleapit. We were living in a toilet, like right next to the ladies’ toilet. We would go to bed late and be woken up the next day by the sound of the cinema show. We’d try to get into the ladies’ first, which was the cleanest of the cinema’s lavatories, but fat old German women would push past us. We’d wake up in the morning and there would be old German fraus pissing next door. That was where we washed. That was our bathroom. It was a bit of a shock in a way." - John Lennon "There were no cooking facilities at the Bambi Kino, and the group had no money when they first arrived in Hamburg. The Beatles took to visiting the British Sailors’ Society where the manager, Mr Hawk, gave them cornflakes and milk. That evening, at the Indra Club, they were encouraged to raise their game by manager Allan Williams. He encouraged them to “Make it a show, boys!”, a phrase quickly taken up by Koschmider – the cry of “Mak show, Beatles! Mak show!” would become a hallmark of this first Hamburg show. The Beatles took note, and began working on their stage show. By the end of their time in Germany they would be a tight live act, regularly drawing crowds and able to effortlessly thrill their audiences." - https://www.beatlesbible.com/1960/08/18/live-indra-club-hamburg-2/

Now and Then - The Beatles in Hamburg - Beatles-Platz

"A memorial for the Fab Four: with the exception of Liverpool, no other city played such a major role in the Beatles' career as Hamburg. In the very heart of St Pauli, on Grosse Freiheit, the Beatles Platz square commemorates this legendary pop band. An unparalleled career: in Hamburg, the lads from Liverpool did not only conquer the hearts of the locals, but also those of the entire global music world. So in 2001, Stephan Heller, programme head of the local radio station Oldie 95, came up with the idea of creating a Beatles square in Hamburg. Today, a paved vinyl plate and five stainless steel silhouettes of the famous artists commemorate the Beatles, their history, and the St Pauli music scene of the 1960s. A few steps further away you will also find a single silhouette reminiscent of Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles’ original bass guitarist, who died in 1962. In the grooves between the granite plates there are stainless steel bands sporting engravings of about 70 song titles of the Beatles. At the edge of the plate, square lamps are recessed in the ground, which are illuminated consecutively, creating the impression of a rotating turntable. If you like, you can step inside one of the silhouettes and become a member of the Beatles, if only for a very short time." - https://www.hamburg-travel.com/see-explore/sightseeing/beatles-platz/ "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 Starr each of whom played with The Beatles at times during their Hamburg engagements. Beatles-Platz is located in HamburgBeatles-PlatzBeatles-Platz Location of Beatles-Platz in Hamburg This plaza was built to commemorate Hamburg's importance in The Beatles' history. The draft design was by architects Dohse & Stich during a common tendering. Building the project cost about €500,000 and was split among donations, sponsors and the city of Hamburg. The project's initiator was Hamburg radio station Oldie 95. On the station's instigation the community of interest IG Beat City was founded, which considers The Beatles-Platz as a prelude for more projects targeting The Beatles' memorisation in Hamburg's cityscape.[citation needed] After Hamburg's First Mayor Ole von Beust and Minister of Culture Karin von Welck gave the senate's consent for the project, construction began. The first drawing saw the construction started around December 2005–January 2006, overall costs of €100,000 and a completion in May 2006, in time for the Football World Cup. On 29 May 2008 at 13:00, construction began with the symbolic groundbreaking, which was done by the initiator Stephan Heller. Uriz von Oertzen (Hi-Life Entertainment), Frank Otto, Dr. Karin von Welck (minister of culture), Markus Schreiber (head of borough exchange Hamburg-Mitte) and Prof. Jörn Walter (construction supervisor).[1] The five figures on Beatles-Platz Construction continued for approximately three months, and ceremonial opening took place on 11 September 2008 presided over by the city's First Mayor. The Beatles memorial consists of metal statues of the band members as well as song names of successful songs. The initial engravings held some spelling mistakes such as Drive me car, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Can't Buy Melove ,[2][3] which could not be corrected before completion. By now the incorrect plates have been exchanged.[3]"- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatles-Platz

Star Club Memorial, The Beatles in Hamburg, The Start or Rock'n Roll and Beat Music in Germany.

#beatles #hamburg #musichistory Star Club, The Beatles in Hamburg "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" - https://marketing.hamburg.de/beatles-traces-in-st-pauli.html "In a backyard of Große Freiheit, a plaque commemorates the former Star Club. In the 60s, great musicians such as the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard and Fats Domino performed here. Door to door with striptease shops and nepp pubs, suddenly sweating young Englishmen in leather jackets and dangerous hairstyles stood on stage, let their guitars thunder and screamed hoarse declarations of love to Lucille, Carol, Peggy Sue and Miss Molly through their 30-watt amplifiers. This club was a revelation for the then youngsters, the "Halbstarken". Since Bill Haley had initiated wild hall and street battles between his fans and a truncheon-wielding, tear-gas-throwing police on his first German tour in 1956, adults and the press have ensured that this music was almost completely suppressed. What remained were pop songs, jazz and so-called "teenager music" - Germanized and trivialized American rock songs. The only ray of hope: the English soldier station BFBS and Chris Howland with his "Saturday Club" on WDR. A small unknown band called "The Beatles". Nevertheless the development somehow stopped. Although the Kaiserkeller was the first club in Germany to regularly bring rock music and local greats like Tony Sheridan live on stage, real stars, as they were known from records and runkfunk, did not come to Hamburg. There were only more or less unknown bands who mainly played other people's hits, even the Beatles were no exception. It was time for the Star-Club... One morning St. Pauli was stuck full of bright orange posters with the announcement: The need has an end! The time of village music is over! On 13.04.1962 Manfred Weissleder opened his Star-Club on Grosse Freiheit and lured rock greats like the Beatles, the BeeGees, Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, James Brown, Fats Domino, Eric Burton, Lee Curtis and Jerry Lee Lewis to St. Pauli for the next seven years. A milieu that initially deterred many young people and even more parents. Suit instead of leather jacket, party instead of brawl However, fights and bad rockers in leather jackets were rarely encountered in the Star Club. They went there to listen to music. And that with suit, tie and Nyltest shirt or high heels, lipstick and high backed beehive hairstyle. There were problems every evening only for the under-18s. At 9:50 p.m. sharp, when the star band had finished their first performance, the hour of truth, which always brought many guests to it, suddenly struck a 10:00 p.m. from the house loudspeaker by announcement. All young people under the age of eighteen must now leave the Star Club. The waiters are instructed to carry out a passport check. In ten minutes it goes then further in the star club with... ". The last memory of the club: a commemorative plaque Soon there were almost a million visitors a year. If he was a teenager in Hamburg, his first way led him to the Star Club. Some even came from England, France and Scandinavia just to spend a few nights at the Great Freedom. Desperate parents wrote letters and called the Star Club office to see if their runaway son or daughter had been seen. The Star Club was a small piece of freedom in a hostile world dominated by authority, prohibition and coercion that fought and tried to suppress everything that was fun. On 31.12.1969 there was the very last concert, the very generous nightclub Salambo moved in. The building, which lay idle for a long time afterwards, was finally demolished in 1987 after a fire. Today only a commemorative plaque commemorates the legendary time." - https://www.hamburg-travel.com/see-explore/sightseeing/star-club/