Travel: New York to Miami

The Beatles travelled to Miami from New York on this day, leaving on National Airlines Flight 11 at 1.30pm and arriving at 4pm.

Their arrival was watched by 7,000 fans, which had been alerted to The Beatles’ presence by local radio stations WFUN and WQAM.

After disembarking from the aeroplane The Beatles were taken in a three-limousine convoy to the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. Motorcycle outriders led and trailed the convoy for the eight-mile journey, as fans lined the streets to watch.

Miami was like paradise. We had never been anywhere where there were palm trees. We were real tourists; we had our Pentax cameras and took a lot of pictures. I’ve still got a lot of photos of motorcycle cops with their guns. We’d never seem a policeman with a gun, and those Miami cops did look pretty groovy. We had a great time there.

They were accompanied by New York radio DJ Murray the K, who managed to talk his way into sharing a room with George Harrison at the Deauville.

I’ve often wondered how Murray could barge into the room and hang out with us for the entire trip. It’s funny, really. I never quite understood how he did that.

In the evening The Beatles went to the Mau Mau Lounge to watch The Coasters perform, and were taken by Murray the K to see Hank Ballard and the Midnighters at the Miami Peppermint Lounge.

I had another disastrous evening in Miami. We went out to see The Coasters, who were heroes with Yakety Yak. People were dancing to them in the club, and I just couldn’t understand it. These were rock ‘n’ roll gods to me, and people were dancing! I was just so disgusted. But The Coasters were great, and it was a thrill to see American artists. We’d never seen them before like this, in America.