Article: Their Beatles-themed Airbnb rental near Lambeau Field offers Fab Four accommodations, a British loo and oodles of games, too

By Kendra Meinert
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Go inside Green Bay’s Beatles-themed Airbnb – click to view full gallery (14 photos)

GREEN BAY – About the only thing missing from Addie and Tim Sorbo’s Beatles-themed vacation rental is a “Paul McCartney slept here sign,” and it wasn’t for lack of trying.

At least not on Addie’s part.

When she found out Sir Paul would be in concert at Lambeau Field in 2019, she invited her favorite Beatle to be the inaugural guest in the fabulous Fab Four getaway she and Tim had just finished in the lower level of their home. Where else was he going to find accommodations just a quick 1.6-mile jaunt from the stadium that come with not only a private entrance and a “Yellow Submarine” pingpong room but also a shower designed to look like one of those classic British red phone booths?

The welcome mat may as well have said “Let It Be.”

To prove to him the invite was legit (and she was, too), Addie sat down and chronicled her immense love for The Beatles, beginning in middle school when her dad turned her on to ’60s bands. He was a Rolling Stones guy, but she gravitated toward The Beatles.

While her friends were going crazy for New Kids on the Block, she was spending her money on Bradford Exchange collector plates of Paul, John, George and Ringo. By the time she was a sophomore, she had logged her first McCartney concert — a 1993 show at Milwaukee County Stadium. There have been seven more since.

A graphic designer and the founder of marketing communications firm Strawberry Fields Design, Addie mailed off a 28-page booklet, along with the invite, to McCartney’s publicist and to his residences in England and New York.

He didn’t take her up on the offer but plenty of other people have.

Addie Sorbo, a Beatles fan since she was a kid, and her husband Tim opened Abbey Road Green Bay, a Beatles-themed Airbnb studio apartment, three years ago in the lower level of their family home near Lambeau Field. The unique decor has attracted guests from all over the world.

Addie Sorbo, a Beatles fan since she was a kid, and her husband Tim opened Abbey Road Green Bay, a Beatles-themed Airbnb studio apartment, three years ago in the lower level of their family home near Lambeau Field. The unique decor has attracted guests from all over the world. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Since Addie and Tim welcomed their first guests three years ago — fans from North Dakota who came for the McCartney concert — their Abbey Road Green Bay listing on Airbnb has hosted visitors from across the country and as far away as China and Australia.

Sometimes it’s people coming to visit Door County, see family or just relish The Beatles experience. Other times, it’s Green Bay Packers fans from Manchester, England, and Spain flying in for their first game at Lambeau Field, a bucket list checkmark.

The downstairs studio apartment in the Sorbos’ family home near Parkwood Drive was booked every Packers home game last season and, not surprising, it’s spoken for during the weekend of the Bayern Munich-Manchester City soccer match July 23 at Lambeau.

Don’t mind Paul McCartney in the bathroom

For Beatles buffs, the fan experience begins before they even step inside. They can walk a version of the iconic Abbey Road crosswalk with silhouettes of The Beatles before entering the 900-square-foot space through a backyard door that mimics the red phone booths.

In a cozy living room with a stone fireplace, shelves and curio cabinets are filled with Beatles memorabilia. There are collectible figurines, Corgi die-cast model Beatles buses, plates, black-and-white photos, ornaments, buttons, records and a vintage TV Guide with McCartney on the cover.

Most of it is stuff Addie has been collecting since her school days. Don’t tell anybody, but there’s just as much in her studio upstairs, not that it keeps her from scouting for the next great find.

When a friend recently had an estate sale after his McCartney-loving aunt died, he let Addie shop early. She came away with Beatles books, Beatles puzzles and a Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit.

“It was a complete jackpot,” she said.

That’s a little how guests must feel when they stay at the place. There are things to look at here, there and everywhere, not unlike a museum. Mementos in glass cases are locked, but many are sitting out on shelves and tables.

“We’re just trusting people to respect our stuff,” Addie said.

They have not had any issues to date with items that have been damaged or disappeared.

At Abbey Road Green Bay, you might say guests can shower with Paul McCartney. Owner Addie Sorbo did the creative bathroom transformation that's a nod to London and also laid the hexagon tile on the floor.

At Abbey Road Green Bay, you might say guests can shower with Paul McCartney. Owner Addie Sorbo did the creative bathroom transformation that’s a nod to London and also laid the hexagon tile on the floor. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

It’s hard not to marvel at the bathroom, which leans a little more “London Calling” than “A Hard Day’s Night.” The decor is a nod to London, right down to the Union Jack wastebasket and the framed “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster.

The Sorbos reconfigured the room to add a shower, which Addie transformed into a red phone booth with a door from Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity ReStore and her artistic talents. Then she found an image of McCartney talking on the phone and blew it up life-sized so it looks like he’s in the booth.

It’s hard to imagine a single guest at Abbey Road Green Bay passing up that selfie opportunity.

For Addie, the creative wheels are always turning. One Christmas she decorated an entire tree with Beatles ornaments she painted herself. She’s not sure the Cleveland Browns fans staying there truly appreciated it, but she had fun doing it.

“I’m pretty passionate about all the details,” Addie said. “I have a blast. It’s easy to go overboard.”

Classic board games are displayed as art on a wall of the game room, where floor-to-ceiling shelves are filled with hundreds of games and books for guests to enjoy.

Classic board games are displayed as art on a wall of the game room, where floor-to-ceiling shelves are filled with hundreds of games and books for guests to enjoy. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Beyond The Beatles, there are books, board games

Friends and neighbors, well acquainted with her fondness for all things Beatles and the royal family, too, often flag her if they spot something on Facebook Marketplace, like the “Love Is All You Need” wooden trunk beneath a large portrait of The Beatles from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” she painted in high school art class.

That painting became the inspiration for the Airbnb rental, but the seed may have been planted when Addie was in college. She did an independent study on themed restaurants, thinking she wanted to own a Beatles café one day.

“Then I realized I didn’t want to own a restaurant. I just wanted to design them,” she said.

She’s done themed spaces for businesses and her family’s church. She’s just waiting for someone to call her and say they have an Airbnb rental they would like her to tackle. None as dear to her heart, however, as Abbey Road Green Bay. McCartney might have something to do with that.

“He’s just so cool,” she said. “He’s so genuine, and I love that he’s such a loyal person. He’s just a musical genius.”

You may be wondering where Tim fits into all this Beatlemania? Well …

“He shares my passion, but I had to teach him who the names of The Beatles were when we met,” she said, laughing. “He lets me do my thing. He’s completely supportive. He likes their music, but he’s not a superfan like I am.”

His influence is on display in the apartment’s game room. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases are filled with his books and games. Guests will quickly figure out he’s a huge fan of author Clive Cussler, but his vast collection of titles also spans World War II, Abraham Lincoln, “Tarzan of the Apes” and “Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales.”

Some of his childhood board games cover one of the walls as art — a nostalgic mosaic of Sorry!, Parcheesi, The Game of Life, Operation, Bonkers!, Home Alone and others, with a map of Middle-earth tacked on for good measure. Shelves are stacked with more recent “gamer games” like Dungeon Lords and Five Tribes.

The Sorbos, their two teenage children and 6-year-old cockapoo Murray, are a game night family, often hosting potluck gatherings with friends where the play can stretch past midnight. They’re happy to share the games with guests, who sometimes leave a note to say their favorite part of the entire stay was all the games.

To tie the game room in with the Beatles theme, Addie decoupaged assorted photos of The Beatles playing games and drinking coffee and hung them in the kitchenette, where the cupboard door handles and backsplash are decorated with dice, Scrabble squares and other game pieces.

A painting of The Beatles Addie Sorbo created in high school is framed as a centerpiece of the decor at Abbey Road Green Bay.

A painting of The Beatles Addie Sorbo created in high school is framed as a centerpiece of the decor at Abbey Road Green Bay. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

While guests enjoy a cup of coffee, they can page through a scrapbook Addie made with newspaper clippings from McCartney’s Lambeau concert. She was there that day, in VIP seats. Somebody with McCartney’s team found her to let her know her invitation to stay at Abbey Road Green Bay did make its way to Sir Paul himself, but that he wouldn’t be meeting with any fans.

“I came this close,” she said.

It could still happen one day, maybe if she goes across the pond to England to him.

“You won’t believe it, but I’ve never been there. It’s on my bucket list,” she said. “I have to find somebody to go with me who really likes The Beatles, because that’s what we’re going to be doing the whole time.”

 

View the making of this Beatles-themed space in our portfolio

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