It was 60 years ago... – Aug. 21, 1964 – The Beatles made their first visit to Seattle.
Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr of The Beatles fishing
from their hotel room at the Edgewater Inn, Seattle on Aug. 21, 1964.
The Beatles were in Seattle to perform at the Seattle Center Coliseum
during their US tour.
In honor of the occasion, KIRO Newsradio decided to retrace the footsteps of the band – who had to make it from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) to the Edgewater Hotel and then to Seattle Center – all the while being mobbed by screaming fans.
The Beatles came to Seattle for the first time 60 years ago and played a single show on a Friday night at what’s now Climate Pledge Arena.
Since there was no I-5 freeway and no 509 freeway between Sea-Tac and Seattle in 1964, Highway 99 would have been the most likely route for the Fab Four’s motorcade.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct was in place in 1964, and it’s a fair bet the limos took the viaduct northbound, and then used the exit ramp to Seneca, for what would then be a fairly simple drive to the Edgewater via northbound First Avenue and then westbound Wall Street, or, perhaps an even better bet was the Western Avenue exit from northbound 99 just south of the old Battery Street Tunnel and then to Wall Street.
Six decades ago, the band had a much harder time getting around in Seattle, thanks to all those screaming fans camped out at the airport, the hotel and Seattle Center. But, they did manage to play their 29-minute set before 14,720 fans.
Then, it was back to the Edgewater – this time, hiding in an ambulance, since fans had crushed the roof of the awaiting limousine.
The next day, they likely retraced their route to Sea-Tac Airport, driving though Beatlesville on Beatles Avenue for the last few blocks before once again going through the service gate and down the hill to the Lockheed Constellation.
The four-engine propeller plane took off and headed north for a concert that night in Vancouver, British Columbia. But then, because somehow or other, the band and its entourage had neglected to properly clear U.S. Customs, the plane came back and landed at Sea-Tac again, so that the necessary paperwork could be properly processed before the group left the United States.
Thus, technically speaking, the Beatles landed in Seattle – or, at least, at Sea-Tac Airport – twice in August 1964.
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