Fans can have Hendrix experience at guitarist's London home

LONDON (AP) — When he was not being a string-shredding, amp-blasting guitar hero, Jimi Hendrix liked nothing better than to sit at home drinking tea and watching the British soap opera "Coronation Street."

The musician's former apartment — in a London building that links Handel's "Messiah" and "Purple Haze" — opens to the public Wednesday.

The apartment, restored to its multicolored 1960s glory, forms part of Handel & Hendrix in London, a museum devoted to two innovative musicians who were neighbors, two centuries apart.

In 1968, Hendrix and Etchingham rented an apartment above a restaurant next door, furnishing it with a red carpet and turquoise curtains from the John Lewis department store a few blocks away.

"Music students used to come and knock on the door and say 'George Frideric Handel, I'm a student of his music, can I have a look around?'" said Etchingham, a writer and former DJ.

Persian rugs layer the floor, Hendrix's favorite Victorian shawl hangs above the bed, an acoustic guitar lies nearby, and a bottle of cheap-and-cheerful Mateus Rose wine sits close to hand.

Christian Lloyd, author of "Hendrix at Home," said the guitarist had a seismic effect on the London music scene and British blues players like Eric Clapton.