In pervious blogs I’ve shown the Lennon walls in Sofia, Bulgaria and in Prague, Czech Republic so I thought that I’d add the final John Lennon site outside of Liverpool which I found on my travels which is the Strawberry Fields in Central Park NYC:
Strawberry Fields NYC was dedicated to Lennon on the 9
October 1985 which would have been his 45th birthday by Lennon's
widow Yoko Ono.
The entrance to the memorial is located on Central Park West
at West 72nd Street where John would often go for walks with his son Sean
because it is directly across from the Dakota Apartments, where Lennon had
lived for the later part of his life, and where he was murdered.
The memorial is named after The Beatles song
"Strawberry Fields Forever" which is named after Strawberry Field in
Liverpool which was once a Salvation Army children's home where a young John
Lennon would go to garden parties that took place each summer on the grounds of
Strawberry Field.
The Dakota building has a very strange feel to it, a flame
burning by the entrance and many iron gargoyles set a mourning atmosphere and
knowing the history of what happened in the entrance gates gave a very strong
reality to the story of Lennon’s life and is far from the semi-detached home he
grew up in back in Liverpool yet the peaceful Strawberry Fields near both the
homes have a completely different air, a celebration of life and a sense of
peace fill the memorial section of Central Park. People playing guitars and
exchanging stories while others take pictures by the “Imagine” mosaic which
usually has messages, pictures, candles and flowers around it in a tribute to
Lennon. The area feels far from NYC city at times and is a great place to sit
and relax while people watching, so many interesting characters come here that
it’s hard not to like.
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