John Lennon's Untold Bay Area Connection

John Lennon would be 70 tomorrow, were he still alive. And today, on the eve of Lennon's would-be birthday, The Bay Citizen's Scott James broke the story of a heretofore untold connection that Lennon and Yoko Ono had with the Hong family in San Mateo, whose modest home they stayed several times during the '70s.

Lennon even previewed a new song he was developing on the family's piano. It was called "Imagine."

Apparently, Lennon heard of the Hong family through other musicians, such as, possibly, the Who's Keith Moon, who had likely learned of family patriarch Yuan Bain Hong's skill at acupuncture and herbal medicine through an editor at Rolling Stone (You may recall that the magazine was originally headquartered in San Francisco.) He and Yoko went there several times for treatment.

This a fascinating piece -- not just because it adds some local color to the legend of John and Yoko, but because of the telling details and anecdotes that the Hong family still recalls about the celebrity couple today.

[via The Bay Citizen]

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