Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I spent the Christmas holidays in NYC and visited The Dakota. Funny how small it was in person. After seeing how W. 72nd and Central Park West are set up, it is more amazing to me that all those people were there in 1980. The doorman took me through the chronological order of events and even walked Lennon's last walk. Very eerie.

Say what you want aboout Yoko, and I've said plenty, but to be able to walk past the very spot your husband was murdered almost everyday takes courage...I can't imagine it.

Brian, Did you go across the street to Strawberry Fields in Central Park?
I've been there many times including the day after George passed and that place was just amazing.
I also agree with your comments about Yoko.
I for one wouldn't be able to live there.

In the mid 70's I drove a cab for a while in NYC. When I could, I made it a point to cruise by the Dakota entrance. Nope, never had John in taxi.... Richie Havens once, but never John.

http://www.geocities.com/laughtershock/dakota.html

I did Bob. It is a nice simple place. Very nice crowd as well. Except for the guy playing McCartney songs on his acoustic. He wasn't bad he was just playing the wrong end of the songwriting team. I put a couple of bucks in his case anyway.

I grew up in a neighborhood of large houses in the north Chgo suburbs. One friend lived in an 8 bedroom home (not including the coach house) on a half acre. Still, the Dakota strikes me as large, even today. Certainly there are more massive apartment buildings in NYC. But when you consider the detail and time period in which it was built, it is huge. Perhaps too many people think about it as the place where John Lennon died. Maybe Yoko thinks it's the place where, more than any other, he lived. If she likes living there, Mark David Chapman certainly is not a good reason to move. Besides, the places she owns there have appreciated nicely the past 25 years.

I think we have made it bigger than life.

good point.

Doesn't mean it's not on my list of places to see when I go to New York City....never been, can't wait to go.

I didn't mean the buildng was small. I meant that the street was so close to the entrance, the park was so close to the building etc... I felt the same way at Dealey Plaza where JFK was killed. The area always looked larger than it actually is.

Glen, you are right. MDC definitely is no reason to move. I just give her credit for being able to walk past that spot everyday, but she probably lives on the good memories of their time there.

The Dakota entrance (much like other "historic" spots) is likely going to be a let-down for some. I suspect the anticipation will be greater that the actual visit. After all.... its just a building entrance where over the space of a few minutes, something horrible happened a quarter of a century ago.

I'd much prefer to visit a place with positive vibes... like The Cavern... wait a minute - they tore it down! Those BASTARDS!!!!

I just made a visit to the Dakota in October and snapped a few pictures, visited Strawberry Fields and stopped for a snack and cappacino at La Fortuna which had a few pictures of John & Yoko on the walls. The Westside Pharmacy also has a few pics and memorials of John in their window.

I didn't feel comfortable enough to approach the Dakota doormen and it was an eerie bittersweet experience. However, it was still a nice opportunity to trace some of John's footsteps and walk thru his old stomping grounds and reflect.

I found it a little odd that the subway lets out right at the corner of the Dakota as I never saw that clue in pictures.

It's definitely true that the park (S.F.) and the Dakota are spitting distances from each other. Somehow, through some stroke of luck, I've lived three blocks from 72nd and CPW going on three years now. I went over on 12/8, around 9:30 p.m. and was happy to see thousands of people had turned out. And thinking that's impressive, drawing a crowd like that a quarter century after you're gone. I felt the eerie thing when I was there, years ago, but after living here it's easy to think that John just enjoyed it, too. And it should be considered a happy place for him in that regard. A friend of mine, and long term neighborhood resident, was lucky enough to visit the family there in the late 90s and said Sean was keeping a residence there, too. So it's more than Yoko who's stayed positive about it. (This friend also told me many stories about rockers in our hood. Rick Derringer used to live on my block. All the Beatles visited the Sgt. Pepper's show at the Beacon Theater on the corner when it was playing in the early 70s. This friend worked on that show back then and had to keep John and Yoko separated one night when they were both there as they were separated at the time. My late Aunt also worked for many years on 75th, one door in from CPW. She used to see John all the time. I visited her in the summer of '78 and an intern who was working at her establishment and who was also a Beatles fan was excited to see him as well (can't say the same for my Aunt regarding John, heh-heh.) I remember thinking how cool that was then when I saw the Dakota for the first time as he was still living there.

Jamie, the doorman was very cool. He was pleasant and answered a lot of questions. Not just about John, but some history of the building. He dropped him a good tip.

Who are some of the other 'personalities' who lived in the Dakota in the past? I know Boris Karloff lived there for a number of years. Would love to have heard a conversation between John and Boris ("Tell me John, is it hard to learn to play one of those 'electric banjo' things? "No, Boris, just plug it into one of those daft bolt things in yer neck...") Most likely their tenures were in different decades, though.

I think Mia Farrow lives there and Lauren Bacall lived there...I think.