Aug. 18, 1964 | Beatles Arrive in San Francisco

Aug. 18, 1964 - Great Britain’s Beatles were greeted in San Francisco this afternoon by a howling mob of 5,000 fans only 45 minutes after waving goodbye to a crowd of 500 at Los Angeles International Airport.
As in Los Angeles, the teenagers got only a brief look at their mophead idols.
Some of the girls had waited since last night. As the Beatles’ arrival from Los Angeles was twice delayed, the crowd became increasingly restive.
More than 100 San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies had their hands full keeping order. A fenced-off area half a mile from the terminal was provided for the group’s arrival. At times, the crush of the crowd waiting in the dusty field nearly pushed down the fence.
“If this gives way,” shouted one deputy sheriff, “we’re all dead.”
Several girls and one 8-year-old boy became hysterical in the tugging and confusion and had to be carried to a first aid station by police.
The Beatles were taken in a black limousine from their plane to the fenced-off area. There they climbed to a platform, looking rather disheveled and somewhat wary of the shrill demonstration from their admirers.
The singers waved cheerfully, smiled wanly, and then quickly escaped to the limousine.
A police escort took them to the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, where they were to stay until their show at the Cow Palace tomorrow night. It will be their first stop in a tour of 23 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
After the Beatles’ departure, tears ran down the stricken face of Ann Peters, 15, of Pacifica, as she collapsed from an attack of convulsive sobbing. She had spent most of the day waiting for the Beatles, and like many of those in crowd, she never got to see them.
Albert Manlopig, 18, of San Francisco, bit her lip. “They were wonderful,” she said, “but it was just a few seconds. I was terribly disappointed.”
San Francisco Examiner photographer Gordon Stone overheard a 13-year-old girl weeping silently at the side of a truck. “I’ll die, I’ll die,” she said. “I never saw them.”
Another pulled her own hair as she lay on a stretcher. “John waved at me!” she shrieked.
An unmoved deputy sheriff remarked: “This all proves we go in for mediocrity in this country.”
The show at the Cow Palace has been sold out since last April. The Beatles will perform before a crowd of 17,000 paying a gross of $90,000.

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