Gillian Lomax at John Lennon star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
located right outside the Capitol Records building in downtown Los
Angeles. (Courtesy Gillian Lomax.)
Gillian Lomax, newscaster on "Chris Carter's 'Breakfast With the Beatles,'" is taking on a new venture as tour guide for the new "Magical History Tour," which takes fans on an excursion around Los Angeles area Beatle sites. (You can see a few pictures of Gillian and a few friends and some of the sites in the slideshow at the bottom of the page.) We asked Gillian a few questions about this by email:
Q: How did you get involved in this? Gillian Lomax: After having reported the news on an L.A. Beatles radio show for over six years, I realized that Los Angeles is an important part of the Beatles history. There are many tours here that do the same thing and go to the same places, so I decided to put together my very own one-of-a-kind, never-been-done-before Beatles tour. I have always enjoyed meeting Beatles fans. I've been told I am a really good tour guide and seeing as I am from the Liverpool area and known as the Beatles news reporter, it all makes perfect sense and fits together nicely. It has taken months of extensive research, and a great deal of time matching the music to the places we visit. The result is very interesting and entertaining tour.
Q: What Los Angeles Beatles sites does your tour visit and how long does it take?
Gillian Lomax: It's a 3.5 hour tour and I take people to places where the Beatles lived, the places they hung out, places they played, frequented, the recording studio where John recorded 'Rock n Roll', the house where they met Elvis ... even places connected to their children, friends, and associates.
Q: Give a little known fact about a couple of the stops?
Gillian Lomax: There is a beach house in Santa Monica where John lived during his "lost weekend." When John produced Harry Nilsson's "Pussycats" album, John thought it was a great idea to have everybody on that album living under one roof. John had the master bedroom and the other bedrooms were occupied by Klaus Voormann, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, Hilary Gerard, and the library was turned into a bedroom for Ringo. John used to host Sunday afternoon jam sessions for any of his friends who wanted to stop by. This is where the last photo was taken of Paul and John, and where Ringo met Nancy Andrews, who he went on to date for six years. The Troubador ... In 1974, the Smothers Brothers were making a comeback and appeared at the Troubador. Harry Nilsson and John Lennon attended the event and drank Brandy Alexanders which John said tasted like milkshakes and he ended up completely schnockered. It didn't help when Harry lied and told John that the Smothers Brothers enjoyed being heckled and John believed him. John's heckling was rather annoying and after the Smothers Brothers manager came over to ask John to be quiet, a table was overturned and a fight broke out. John was ousted out and Harry left voluntarily.
Q: How often does the tour run?
Gillian Lomax: The tour runs on weekends, but will extend to weekdays when the demand hits.
Q: Where do people sign up?
Gillian Lomax: My website has all the information. www.amagicalhistorytour.com.
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Comments
I like that pic of Gillian with Eric and Neil. Always a pleasure to see those two.
The place in slide #3 really does look serene. Elvis' place in Bel Air looks way nicer than Graceland.
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