March 2008 Issue

A Night to Remember - Vernon Manor Hotel

The heyday of Beatlemania may have ended long ago, but the names John, Paul, George and Ringo still send shivers up plenty of Ohioans’ spines.

If you went ape when you saw them on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (or would have, if you’d been born), get a little closer to the Fab Four with a night in the Beatles Suite at Cincinnati’s 84-year-old Vernon Manor Hotel. The hotel, modeled after a stately English manor, allows guests to sleep in the same room that the band occupied during their 1966 tour stop in the area. The suite has even been remodeled in funky ‘60s colors so that, for instance, guests can hang loose on a lime-green chair while they bask in the black-and-white photographs of the band that adorn the walls, snapped by local photographer Gordon Baer during their visit. (Baer’s personal notes on the period are attached to each picture.)

Diehard groupies even get to indulge in a special overnight package that includes a bottle of bubbly, chocolates, breakfast in bed the next morning, and the perfect mood music for any fan’s stay: a copy of the Beatles’ last CD, “1.”