Paul McCartney returns to Los Angeles: looking back at the local history of The Beatles

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Fans are already planning their trip to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on May 13th Paul McCartney takes his Returned tour to the house of the Los Angeles Reims Super Cup champion.

Nearly 60 years after The Beatles’ first album, Please, please, was released, McCartney, who turns 80 on June 18, is still stronger and fills filled stadiums and arenas. More than 70,000 people will gather at SoFi for a sold-out concert on Friday. McCartney has recently been spotted twice in Los Angeles, once on a double date Ring Page and their wives and one day a hike to the Hollywood Hills.

Paul McCartney will perform at Dodger Stadium on August 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leicester Cohen / WireImage)

When McCartney performs in Los Angeles for the first time since his concert at Dodger Stadium on July 13, 2019, Los Angeles magazine talks to the authors The Beatles in Los Angeles: Yesterday, Today and TomorrowJeremy Louvers and Tom Weitzel, about some of the most important local moments in Beatles history and some little-known Beatles facts.

Both authors are longtime TV producers: Louvers is currently the NFL Network coordinator after spending years at ESPN. Entertainment tonight, Insider, Access to Hollywood and Edition inside. Weitel spent decades as director of the DGA Entertainment tonight and Insider and contributed CBS this morningand he is currently a sought-after performer.

3 best facts about the Beatles in Los Angeles

1. When McCartney is in Los Angeles, he stays at his home near Coldwater Canyon. He purchased it at Courtney Love, and it was the one-time residence of Ellen DeGeres. George Harrison left the material world from there in 2001.

2. Most of McCartney’s friends on the tour group he worked with for more than 20 years (10 years more than with The Beatles) live in Los Angeles. Rusty Anderson, his guitarist, was born in La Habra. His drummer “Abe” Labariel Jr. was born in Los Angeles and lives in the Hollywood Hills. Brian Ray, his bassist, was also born in Southern California.

3. McCartney loves to drive around town on his branded Blue Corvette.

In this exclusive photo, Paul McCartney performs a secret show at Amoeba Records in Hollywood in 2007. (Amoeba Records)

5 best McCartney performances in Los Angeles

As stated in The Beatles in Los Angelesin Los Angeles there are many iconic performances of the Beatles, and for the authors Louvers and Weitzel these five stand out.

1. The Beatles first hit Los Angeles in 1964 at the Hollywood Bowl. Did you know the famous game show and host KTLA Rose Parade Bob Ubenks mortgaged his home in Woodland Hills to make it happen? Eubenks tells the story to the authors in the book.

2. McCartney is returning to Los Angeles to perform for the first time since The Beatles broke up in 1976 with his band Wings at The Forum. The show was the hottest ticket in town, including visitors Jack Nicholson, Elton John and Cher. The Beatles in Los Angeles is the story of a lavish party the next evening at the Beverly Hills mansion, where McCartney hangs out with concert goers and Michael Jackson.

3. McCartney gave a secret concert in 2007 at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, where less than 1,000 happy fans gathered at the store to see it. Ring, Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Love Hewitt were among those who filled the room. Chapter 19 goes behind the scenes, where it tells how McCartney found himself on stage in a record store.

4. McCartney will perform at Dodger Stadium in 2019, his last stop Refresh a tour that included a performance by Ringo Starr, where they performed an intense version of Halter Skelter in the same town where Manson’s murders took place.

5. January 27, 2014: McCartney and Starr record a special CBS television show called A Night That Changed America: The Beatles Grammy Fireworks in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The special event is timed to the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ performance on Ed Sullivan’s show. In the evening performed with Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, Eurythmyand Alicia Keyswith the main point being that McCartney and Starr sing “With A Little Help From My Friends,” as if no time had passed since Ed Sullivan’s original performance in the 1960s.

Longtime TV producers Jeremy Louvers (left) and Tom Weitzel (right) are the authors of The Beatles in Los Angeles: yesterday, today and tomorrow. (Rich Schmidt)

How The Beatles in Los Angeles The book appeared

Why did you decide to write this book?

Louwerse: To unite the two great icons, The Beatles and Los Angeles, and get stories of what happened to John, Paul, George and Ringo in this city from those who were THERE to witness it.

Weitzel: As a child The Beatles were my heroes. Jack Stear actually had a movie in which the guys performed before their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. I saw it and it literally changed what I thought might be a rock band. As I grew, my respect for them as innovators grew. Living in Los Angeles, we are surrounded by such powerful reminders of the band’s influence on our imagination.

What was the most amazing thing you learned about The Beatles while researching this book?

Weitzel: Pat Boone thought they were cool, and wanted to record “Love Me Do,” and his record company gave it up!

Louwerse: Lots of things: we learned about a time when John, who rarely drove, got behind the wheel, rode hard on the PCH and nearly crashed. We learned about Paul’s incredible parties in the 1970s in the magnificent mansions of Beverly Hills, where he first met Michael Jackson, and we discovered the ONLY photos in which Elvis and The Beatles together in Bel Air, for 30 years no one knew about their existence.

What is your favorite Beatles memory?

Louwerse: See George Harrison’s performance at Madison Square Garden during a Bob Dylan concert.

Weitzel: Listening to the tiny AM radio summer “Sgt. Pepper’s ”was released. I was on a family vacation in New Jersey, and a New York radio station played it from start to finish. That, speaking that day, “blew me away”.

What is your favorite memory from Paul McCartney’s concert?

Weitzel: His performance on the Super Bowl show took a break in 2005. He ended the set with the song “Hey Jude”. I have never seen the crowd so united and so happy that they sang along.

Louwerse: Visiting number 3 on our list, the secret show of Amoeba Records in 2007.

Did you have the opportunity to do an interview / interview with Paul McCartney? Do you have memories of what he was like?

Weitzel: I only had a few interviews with Paul. What struck me personally, and when I watched the interview with him, is that he never gets along with his success. He has worked hard and deserves every success. He likes it and I think he enjoys what his music brings to people.

Louwerse: One day I saw Paul up close at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, I had a chance to say hello, but was so impressed that I froze, I would love to thank him for the music that makes me happy every day.

What readers will get The Beatles in Los Angeles that they will not come out of another book?

Louwerse: Those who are familiar with Los Angeles will be amazed at the places where The Beatles spent time in this city. They will realize that every day they pass by the places where John, Paul, George and Ringo lived and loved. They will also read how Los Angeles has influenced some of the greatest music ever created.

Weitzel: They will see four young people with wide eyes living in Eden, whom they have only seen in movies and TV shows. They thought going to The Whiskey A-Go-Go was a great idea. They loved hanging out by the pools. Liverpool and London are cold, damp places by comparison. Readers will see photos of that legendary meeting of Elvis and the guys; material of legends.

The Beatles in Los Angeles the book is available now. Get it here.