At the junction of the Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit — the small side street where the Beatles played most of their formative club nights — a circular paving disc holds five abstract stainless-steel silhouettes of the band members. The fifth, narrower than the others, represents both Pete Best (the original drummer) and Stuart Sutcliffe (the original bassist who left the band in Hamburg and died there in 1962).
The square was created in 2008 with funding from a local radio station and a public subscription. Nearby, brass plaques set into the pavement of the Grosse Freiheit mark the locations of the long-gone Star-Club, the Top Ten Club and the Kaiserkeller — the venues where the band did their 281 nights of Hamburg work. It is a low-key memorial, easily missed, and worth a brief detour from the Reeperbahn.