As the door closed behind me and I was left alone in suite 1742, a sense of panic mixed with déjà vu set in. I had seen these rooms before, on old newsreel, in documentaries and in glossy coffee table books.
But being here in the very space where John and Yoko stood – or rather laid – felt intrusive somehow. It felt like they might wander in and ask me to bugger off.
Fifty years ago this month, John Lennon and Yoko Ono made international headlines by taking over four rooms in a Montreal hotel for just over a week, protesting for peace around the world. And from 26 May to 2 June, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel will be celebrating the anniversary of that infamous bed-in.
Two months prior to their stay, Lennon and Ono had completed a similar protest in an Amsterdam hotel. Their intention was to hold a second event in New York, but a conviction for possession of cannabis barred Lennon from entering the US. Free-thinking Montreal became a last-minute stand-in.
Hotel staff and guests at the time were less than impressed with the arrival of these famous guests, who were accompanied by a huge entourage of reporters, fans and, as one hotel guest exclaimed, “long-haired hippies”. Complaints were also made from the housekeeping team who had to vacuum the corridors three to four times a day as Lennon was prone to scattering flower petals.
Upon checking in, the couple, who were travelling with Yoko’s daughter, Kyoko, requested brown rice served cold as well as, curiously, a cage for a white mouse.
Despite the history, suite 1742 is priced at the same rate as any other suite in the hotel, which is calculated by square footage. However, a special package has been arranged for the anniversary, which, for CA$3,500 (£1,995), includes a mystery collector’s item, a pair of white pyjamas, a tea set and a souvenir of framed lyrics from “Give Peace a Chance”.
The suite has been completely refurbished with artwork and furniture curated to represent the suite’s most famous guests: there’s a British Chesterfield sofa, a Japanese vase and blue and white colour schemes to reflect Yoko Ono, one translation of which means “daughter of the ocean”.
Those iconic signs reading “Hair Peace” and “Bed Peace” have been recreated as permanent window stickers above the bed.
Maybe it was their presence, or the rotary telephone and retro TV set, but I couldn’t get comfortable in the main bedroom as I felt like I was in a window shop display. Thankfully, the second room is less like a museum exhibit and more like a traditional luxury hotel room, complete with an adjoining bathroom with one of the most beautiful bathtubs I have ever soaked in.
Those later refurbishments created one suite from what was originally four rooms. In 1969, all the furniture was removed so that it could be used as a holding room for the journalists and Hare Krishnas that followed Lennon, in between the 150 interviews he granted during that week.
I returned later to the main room to pick up that rotary phone and listen nostalgically to Lennon being interviewed. I left the TV set on, which plays historical footage from their stay, as I wandered around as if studying an art installation.
The archive room has been modelled in the same style as the Dakota building in New York, Lennon’s home, with select drawers and boxes featuring stories, interviews, photographs and multimedia art related to the pair’s anti-war campaign.
On a side table, Lennon’s favourite books, “Alice in Wonderland” and the complete stories of Edgar Allen Poe, are stacked neatly – although it was hard to pull myself away from the historical objects and testimonials.
I gave myself a headache overusing the virtual reality goggles that blend modern film with footage from 1969 to tell the story of the bed-in. So instead I lay down on the bed (that bed) and couldn’t resist snapping a selfie.
After giving it my best shot at “Come Together” on the in-suite guitar, I was surprised to hear from the hotel’s public relations director that Lennon didn’t actually arrive with a guitar. So, composing and recording his first solo single, “Give Peace a Chance”, from this bed in this very room might have been more of an organic process than I originally imagined.
As I listened to an archive recording of that now iconic anthem for peace, I realised I was sitting on the bed, in the exact spot Lennon had sat, with the same view of Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral below.
And in the shadow of Lennon, with his music all around me, I had goosebumps.
Travel essentials
Getting there
Daily flights are offered from the UK to Montreal by a range of carriers, including British Airways.
Staying there
Rooms at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth start from £188 a night.
