Plaza Days

This story I found in the February 1984 issue of Life magazine.  It had a big article that celebrated the Beatles 20th anniversary.   The 20th anniversary was a pretty big deal it seems.    Like the Rolling Stone magazine I have been featuring, this Life magazine also speaks to individuals who were in New York at and had an encounter of some sort with the Beatles in February 1964.  This story is about Gregg Salomone, who was just 5 years old when he met the boys.

A month before the Beatles' scheduled arrival in New york, the Plaza Hotel decided it would turn down their request for reservations.  Gregg Salomone remembers the crisis.  His father, Alphonse, the hotel manager, announced at dinner in the family penthouse in the Plaza, "I'm going to have to cancel because I'm afraid the hotel won't be able to handle it."  At that point, says Gregg, "My sister screamed, 'The Beatles!' and began crying.  It was because of her carrying on that my father let the whole thing go through.

Gregg had a photo taken with the Ringo, Paul and George along with sister and a friend.  Just before the photo was snapped, says Salomone, Paul noticed the boy's fly was open.  "He said, 'Excuse me.' and bent down and zipped me up."