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Barber of Penny Lane
“Penny Lane, the barber shaves another customer.”
The Beatles
Paul McCartney did not live on Penny Lane, unlike John Lennon. However, it is towards this avenue that his eyes are drawn when he sets out to compose Penny Lane. In this song, Paul McCartney evokes several places: a fire station, a traffic circle or a barber. However, the latter is not really on Penny Lane.
No bowl cut
While one might think that the barber in question, Tony Slavin, was responsible for the Beatles’ famous bowl cut, this is not the case. The shopkeeper is only famous for being quoted indirectly in the song Penny Lane. A fame having amplified with the passing of years, until the opening of another barber, as for him truly located on Penny Lane.
A far-fetched rivalry
When the new – and first – barbershop on Penny Lane opened in 2010, tourists flocked to it. And so much the worse if the trade did not exist at the time of the composition of the piece Penny Lane. On the other side, a few meters back from the avenue, the real barber mentioned by Paul McCartney, thus receives fewer visits. This is enough to cause confusion. The fact that the new barbershop chose to adopt the font of the Beatles logo for its sign further emphasizes the confusion.
Cutting hair into quarters
Nevertheless, Tony Slavin, whose salon was called Bioletti’s in the 1960s, continues to welcome the true fans. The latter, sometimes famous, stop by this unusual place made famous by a cult song. A song often hummed between the walls of this business not really like the others.
Penny Lane has been covered a hundred times by artists as diverse as Laurent Voulzy, Judy Collins and Ralph McTell.
Tony Slavin
Considered Liverpool’s most iconic barber since the song Penny Lane was released, this business is a true pop culture star.
If he is indeed quoted in Penny Lane, this barber is not located in the avenue of the same name. A modest hairdresser for women and men, still in place since the release of the iconic track, where fans flock to have their pictures taken or simply for a little refreshment or a haircut. And if over time other hairdressers have claimed the title of Penny Lane barber, it is still indeed Tony Slavin that amateurs vote for when it comes to making a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Fab Four.
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The café of Amélie, the mansion of Untouchables, the jazz club of the finale of La La Land, the Hôtel du Nord of the mythical replica of Arletty “Atmosphere”, the cinema of A bout de souffle, the restaurant of Ratatouille, the quays of the Seine of Midnight in Paris, the secret places of the Da Vinci Code, the grocery store of January in La Traversée de Paris , the Bridge of Inception and Peur sur la ville, the addresses of the spectacular scenes of Mission Impossible 6, but also series Call my agent, Gears, Le Bureau des légendes, Sense8, Sex and The City, Gossip Girl…
Etienne Daho’s Café de Flore, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hotel in Nas in Paris, Serge Gainsbourg’s Poinçonneur des Lilas metro station, Serge Reggiani and Marc Lavoine’s Mirabeau Bridge, Mc Solaar’s Lyon station…
The places evoked in the comics Adèle Blanc-Sec, Largo Winch, Blake and Mortimer, Michel Vaillant…
But also in the novels of Ernest Hemingway, Victor Hugo, Leo Malet, Daniel Pennac, Marc Levy, Guillaume Musso… you’ll find all the must-see places of Parisian Pop Culture in this new guide.
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By Gilles Rolland
Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.