Key Beatles Hamburg Locations 1960-1962: A Photographic Tour

The long and winding road that the Beatles took to worldwide fame passed through Hamburg, Germany in the early 1960s. Only a couple of years before they became household names, the former Quarrymen and Silver Beatles, now the Beatles, were cutting their musical teeth on nightclub stages in Hamburg.

Mark Lewisohn’s 2013 book about the Beatles covers their years in Hamburg in great detail.
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The Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany several times between 1960 and 1966. In the early 1960s the group was still developing. At the time of their first Hamburg adventure, one of the Beatles, George Harrison, was not yet 18 years old. They were all still very young men, and their group was virtually unknown. By the time of their last German visit in 1966, the Beatles were a worldwide phenomenon.

The Reeperbahn and St. Pauli were a wild place in those days, with no equal even in London. John Lennon has said, “I might have been born in Liverpool – but I grew up in Hamburg.”

The Beatles cut their first record in Hamburg (“My Bonnie,” as the Beat Boys in 1961), with the German producer Bert Kaempfert. They also performed their music live on stage for many more hours in Hamburg than they ever did in their hometown of Liverpool – or anywhere else for that matter. Below is a photo tour of locations in Hamburg where the Beatles lived, worked and played.

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