Abbey Road zebra crossing moved?

[galenfott]

Hello everyone --

I'm hoping someone will have some insight to a question I have about the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing. You will read in various places on the web that the crossing is no longer in the exact place it was for the 1969 photograph, and that it was moved "in 1970" or "in the 1970s". Is this true? Photographic evidence would seem to suggest otherwise. I'm attaching here two images, one the famous album cover, and the other a shot of the crossing from 2008. Whatever the little rectangular "box" is on the fourth stripe (perhaps it's some sort of opening?), it seems to be present in exactly the same place in both pictures. It seems like this is fairly good proof that the crossing hasn't been moved at all.

Thoughts?

[2 of 3]

Good catch! Yeah, that is probably a water shut off or maybe a clean out for the drains in that spot. Now if we could have another angle to look at to see the position of light posts, we could really be sure. 

[galenfott]

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure though that the lights (apparently they're called "Belisha beacons"?) were there in 1969; I think they're there now to warn drivers about the busy crossing (busy, of course, because so many people visit to try to recreate the album cover!).

Furthermore, I'm prepared to say now that it's a total load of rubbish that the crossing has been moved. For different photographic proof, take a look at this photo, purported to have been taken by Linda McCartney. The Beatles here are poised to cross back "the other way". You can see the sidewalk starting to curve away just at the end of the crossing. Compare this to the aerial view on Google Maps, or even the live webcam at www.abbeyroad.com/visit/ (the webcam is pointing in the opposite direction from the famous photo), and you'll see that it's exactly the same now.

[2 of 3]

Right.....if you look at the album cover and see just behind Harrison how the sidewalk changes to a lighter colour square and then a longer stretch of darker paver stones....it's exactly the same in the newer picture. The cross walk is in the original location for sure.  There are just a few additional paint markings for traffic now. 

[Greg]

Wow.  Never heard that, but that question sure had me searching.  I love that kind of trivia stuff.  Interesting.

Also...

Do you all realize that, oddly enough, that is how John would possibly look today?  Esp the picture of him pulling his pants up like older people do a lot. 

[galenfott]

Good point about the sidewalk colors, 2 of 3, they do look the same as before.

Both the Wikipedia pages for the "Abbey Road" album and "Abbey Road Studios" said that the crossing has been moved. I have edited them to remove this, as I think it is clearly a fallacy and I can offer photographic proof! Thanks for the input, guys!

UPDATE: As the final "nail in the coffin" to this rumor, I just noticed that the false info was added to the above Wiki pages on April Fools' Day, 2008. Check my webpage for details:

http://www.grundoon.com/Abbey_Road.html