Iconic Album Covers Reimagined on Their Original NYC Street

Music and New York City have always shared a special connection. From the jazz clubs of the 1920s to the punk scene of the 1970s, the city has been a backdrop for countless artists and their work. But some of the most famous moments in music history were captured not just in sound but in images—specifically, on album covers. What happens when you take these iconic images and place them back in the real world, in the exact spots where the photos were taken? That’s exactly what Bob Egan did. He tracked down the original locations of famous album covers in New York City and recreated the shots as they appear today.

#1 Here’s the cover of ‘West Side Story’, the 1957 Leonard Bernstein musical, superimposed on the street as it looks tonight, tonight.

It’s taken in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York.

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#2 The location for the cover of The Who’s soundtack to the 1979 documentary ‘The Kids Are Alright’ is 116th Street and Morningside Drive, Morningside Heights, New York City. The site is part of the Carl Schurz Monument.

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#3 Van Morrison fans can go for some backyard chicken at the site where the cover of ‘Too Long In Exile’ was shot outside 246 Pearl Street between Fulton Street and John Street.

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#4 The Velvet Underground’s ‘Live At Max’s Kansas City’ (1972) was shot at 213 Park Avenue South, east side between 17th and 18th Street, New York.

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#5 Bob Dylan was photographed on the front steps of 4 Gramercy Park West, New York City for the cover of ‘Highway 61 Revisted’ (1965).

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#6 The full story behind our sleuth’s discovery of the exact spot where the cover for Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’ was taken is well worth reading.

If you’re in a rush: it’s the corner of Sullivan Street and West 3rd Street, Greenwich Village, New York.

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#7 This cover for ‘The New York Dolls’ (1973) by The New York Dolls was taken outside the Gem Spa at the southwest corner of St. Mark’s Place and 2nd Avenue.

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#8 You might have been to the location of the cover of Ramones’ ‘Rocket To Russia’ (1977) without knowing it.

It was taken outside the back door of popular nocturnal haunt CBGB’S at the end of Extra Place, a small alley running north from East 1st Street between Bowery and Second Avenue.

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#9 KISS shot the cover to their 1975 album ‘Dressed To Kill’ on the southwest corner of 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue, looking north, New York.

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#10 This is another account worth reading in full.

Egan found the exact site (at the Central Park entrance called Miners’ Gate) where the legendary pretzel vendor worked and starred on the front cover of Steely Dan’s ‘Pretzel Logic’.

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