LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) — This weekend, San Diegans will have a chance to tour a unique photography exhibit at Legends Gallery in La Jolla, showcasing photos taken during the famous period of John Lennon's life that became known as "The Lost Weekend".
“It definitely was his most creative and commercially productive time in that 18 months," said photographer May Pang, who took the pictures when the two were a couple in 1973 and 1974, during a time when Lennon and Yoko Ono were separated.
Pang had been an assistant for Lennon and Ono for three years before she says Lennon pursued her. “Yoko came into my office at the Dakota and said I need to talk to you. John and I aren’t getting along.” Pang says Ono told her Lennon would begin seeing other people, and suggested Pang be the one to live with them.
During the Lost Weekend, Pang and Lennon split their time between New York and Los Angeles, a period in which Lennon produced some of his most successful music. He also began to spend more time with his musician friends, something he had done less of during the preceeding years when he was with Ono. “People who have come in and seen these photos say they’ve never seen John smile as much," Pang told ABC 10News.
Among those who appear in the photos with Lennon are his Beatle bandmates, whom John had been to some degree estranged from during the group's break-up. But Pang encouraged Lennon to mend those relationships and she says they saw Ringo Starr often when they were in Los Angeles, while Paul McCartney and his wife Linda became regular visitors in New York. Pang showed a photo she took during that time that she believes to be the last picture of Lennon and McCartney together. “It was pretty exciting because it was the two of them just sitting there. it was nice and they got a chance to talk. They hadn’t seen each other in four or five years at that point.”
Pang says the visit led to a music jam, with Pang on tambourine and McCartney playing a set of drums Starr had left at Lennon's home. “Of course, Ringo comes in the next day and finds his snare drum all broken up. I heard later on it still bothered him for many years," Pang said.
While Lennon eventually reunited with Ono, Pang says she continued to talk with Lennon on the phone until his murder in 1980. She says her memories of their time together are happy ones and she enjoys getting the chance to take her photographs on tour.
She'll be at Legends Gallery in La Jolla through Sunday, October 15th, signing autographs and taking questions from fans of Lennon's music. “They can take John home. They can purchase a picture and see John how I saw him.”
