Hotel redesigns room where Lennon and Ono held bed-in
Four connecting rooms couple rented in 1969 is now one $1,969-per-night suite
The room where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their bed-in for peace has received a facelift worthy of its history.
“It’s one of the most famous suites in the world,” said Joanne Papineau, public relations director at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, which reopened in July after a one-year, $140-million renovation.
Now, guests to Suite 1742 can don VR headsets to time-travel back to 1969; gaze at photos and art installations on the bed-in; and see and hear videos and podcasts on Lennon and Ono’s pyjama-clad protest against the Vietnam War.
The four connecting rooms Lennon and Ono rented for seven days starting May 26, 1969, have been transformed into one 128-squaremetre (1,378-square-foot) suite with two king beds, costing $1,969 a night, Papineau said.
The living room area recreates the way the room was set up during the famous bed-in. There’s also a separate bedroom, dining area with kitchenette and two oversized bathrooms, she said.
Media will get a sneak peek at the suite next Thursday and the first guests will move in on Friday.
The suite was the first room booked when the hotel, built in 1958, reopened this summer after renovations, Papineau said.
Lennon and Ono had just married in Gibraltar two months before booking into Rooms 1738, 1740, 1742 and 1744 at the Queen E. They had originally planned to hold the bed-in in New York, but were unable to enter the United States because of a cannabis conviction Lennon received the previous year.
On June 1, 1969, they recorded the peace anthem “Give Peace a Chance” with an assortment of guests, including LSD advocate Dr. Timothy Leary, comedian and TV host Tom Smothers, comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory and poet Allen Ginsberg.
Recording engineer André Perry later acknowledged much of what was recorded in the crowded and noisy room was unusable and had to be redubbed.
The suite has always been popular with honeymooners, Beatles fans and nostalgia buffs, Papineau said.
To coincide with the reopening of Suite 1742, an exhibition of posters inspired by the bed-in will open on the Place Ville Marie Esplanade Thursday, which is the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. Proceeds from poster sales will go to Amnesty International.
In 2009, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts held an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the bed-in, in collaboration with Ono.
Papineau said the hotel has already received inquiries from potential guests wanting to book the suite for the 50th anniversary in 2019.