50 years ago The Beatles scored a number one hit with "Penny Lane". The song topped the charts from March 18-24 in 1967. I remember it well because my good friend Penny lived on Penny Street!

Here's another thing I remember about that song: we actually tried to get the city to change the name of the street to Penny Lane. Unfortunately for us the city council was full of boring adults who had zero idea how fabulous the Beatles were, so it's not too surprising that our little homegrown initiative failed.

No one was sadder than poor Penny of Penny Street.

However we did learn a priceless lesson in civics: when you go before a government body to ask for something, you need a stronger argument than "dreamy", "cool", and "popular" to win your case!