EarthCam Live: Abbey Road Crossing

This is the famous live camera overlooking the Abbey Road zebra crossing in St John's Wood, London — quite possibly the most recreated photograph in music history. It was here, on the cover of the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, that John, Paul, George, and Ringo strode across the street outside Abbey Road Studios. Ever since, fans from around the world have come to walk the same crossing, and the camera catches them doing it, all day, every day. The fun of this feed is the steady parade of visitors stopping traffic to recreate the album cover — often with mixed success as London drivers wait (mostly) patiently. London is on Greenwich Mean Time (or British Summer Time in the warmer months), ten or eleven hours ahead of Hawaii, so the crossing's busy daylight hours fall across the Hawaiian evening and night. The crossing is genuinely active during quieter hours too. Abbey Road Studios, the recording studio just beside the crossing, opened in 1931 and is where the Beatles recorded most of their catalog — and where countless other artists and film scores have been recorded since. The zebra crossing was granted protected "listed" status in 2010 for its cultural importance, a rare honor for a piece of road markings.