Saturday morning and time to do something cultural.
I keep meaning to go on a city walk and never quite round to it.
Until now that is.
About 20 of us gathered to hear Tate curator Darren Pih talk about 1960s bohemian Liverpool on the fringes of L1 and L8.
I say about 20, but there may have been more - there were a few stragglers who had gone to the Tate by mistake instead of meeting at Gambier Terrace. There were mutters about the Echo (ergo me, who wrote a small piece about the walk) being to blame for the mix up, but I pointed out the Echo (didn't mention me!!) hadn't said where it started but simply gave a phone number for more details.
Anyway, I put away my feelings of being a bit peeved about this, and thoroughly enjoyed the walk - even when it started raining.
We wandered up from 3 Gambier Terrace - home to a certain JW Lennon and S Sutcliffe - to Canning Street where Adrian Henri and friends seemed to have lived in most of the houses.
It was at 64 Canning Street that Alan Ginsberg stayed when he came to Liverpool in 1965.
Henri, who certainly had a turn of phrase, described the area as being like 1920s Paris. Even the Daily Post, god bless her, got in on the act, and in 1967 produced a week of articles suggesting L8 was the left bank of the north west.
We also wandered down to Falkner Square where Henri lived at number 24 with artist Sam Walsh and the colourfully-monikered Mayfair Benn who allegedly owned only one suit and was rather 'posh', and up Huskisson Street where Roger McGough had lodgings.
Darren told us about O'Connors in Hardman Street where Ginsberg gave a talk and which didn't have any windows. Apparently there were rather a lot of illicit substances consumed on the premises which were within a stone's throw of the Hope Street cop shop.
In fact, one woman on the walk told me she'd been in there when it was raided by the police on one occasion, although she was quick to tell me she wasn't one of those high on anything.
We ended the morning with about a dozen of us descending on the Everyman bistro for a convivial bite of lunch.
I hear the Brian Epstein tour on June 9 is sold out, so PLEASE don't all turn up on spec or I'll get the blame again!!
