Album Cover Locations
Most iconic album covers were photographed somewhere real. A zebra crossing in St. John's Wood. A tenement on St. Mark's Place. A community garden on East 2nd Street. A pink-clapboard house in the Catskills. This map collects those places — the ones we can trace — and tells the story of each shoot.
Start with a story
Pins are colour-coded by confidence: exact when we can point at the spot the photographer stood, approximate when we know the area but not the precise frame, and a neutral grey for covers that were inspired by a real place without being photographed there. Use the filters to narrow by decade, genre, country, or confidence.
Showing 39 of 39 locations.
ExactApproximateInspired / fictional / unknown
Walking maps by city
City guides to where the covers were shot — with the story of each shoot, what's there today, and a route you can walk.
Then & Now
The cover, and the exact spot today — drag the panorama to look around, the way the photographer once did.
Abbey Road — The Beatles
Abbey Road zebra crossing · London
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan — Bob Dylan
Jones Street at West 4th, Greenwich Village · New York
Physical Graffiti — Led Zeppelin
96–98 St. Mark's Place, East Village · New York
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — Wilco
Marina City towers · Chicago
Ramones — Ramones
Albert's Garden, East Village · New York
Strange Days — The Doors
Sniffen Court, Murray Hill · New York
Illmatic — Nas
Queensbridge Houses · Queens, New York
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars — David Bowie
23 Heddon Street · London
Paul's Boutique — Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys Square (Ludlow & Rivington Streets) · New York
Automatic for the People — R.E.M.
Sinbad Motel · Miami
Lonerism — Tame Impala
Jardin du Luxembourg · Paris
Rage Against the Machine — Rage Against the Machine
Thich Quang Duc memorial · Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Hotel California — Eagles
The Beverly Hills Hotel · Beverly Hills
Animals — Pink Floyd
Battersea Power Station · London
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? — Oasis
Berwick Street, Soho · London
Figure 8 — Elliott Smith
Figure 8 mural, Solutions Audio-Video Repair · Los Angeles
Every location on the map
39 locations across 6 countries.
United States
Berkeley, California · exact
Cosmo's Factory — Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)
Cosmo's Factory (1237 Fifth Street). The cover was photographed inside the West Berkeley warehouse the band nicknamed 'Cosmo's Factory,' their rehearsal space; the building was destroyed by fire in 2005.
Beverly Hills · exact
Hotel California — Eagles (1976)
The Beverly Hills Hotel. David Alexander shot the pink Mission-Revival landmark and its towering palms at dusk from a cherry-picker on Sunset Boulevard. The Beverly Hills Hotel has stood at 9641 Sunset since 1912; its green-and-white striped entrance canopy is unchanged.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)Burbank · exact
Wish You Were Here — Pink Floyd (1975)
Warner Bros. backlot. Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson photographed stuntman Ronnie Rondell Jr. — actually on fire — shaking hands with Danny Rogers on the Warner Bros. studio backlot.
Chicago · exact
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — Wilco (2002)
Marina City towers. Sam Jones photographed Bertrand Goldberg's twin Marina City towers on the Chicago River for the sleeve — a cornerstone of Wilco's hometown skyline.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)Folsom (Represa), California · exact
At Folsom Prison — Johnny Cash (1968)
Folsom State Prison. Jim Marshall photographed Johnny Cash at Folsom State Prison on 13 January 1968, the day of the two concerts recorded for the album.
Joshua Tree · approximate
The Joshua Tree — U2 (1987)
Joshua Tree National Park (broader Mojave shoot). Anton Corbijn shot the band over several days in December 1986 across the Mojave — including Zabriskie Point and Bodie. The single Joshua tree itself fell in 2000; its exact location is approximate.
Lakehurst, New Jersey · inspired
Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin (1969)
Naval Air Station Lakehurst (Hindenburg disaster site). George Hardie's cover is an ink rendering of Sam Shere's photograph of the airship Hindenburg bursting into flames while landing at Lakehurst on 6 May 1937.
Los Angeles · exact
Figure 8 — Elliott Smith (2000)
Figure 8 mural, Solutions Audio-Video Repair. Autumn de Wilde photographed Elliott Smith against the swirling red-and-black mural on the side of Solutions Audio-Video Repair, at 4334 Sunset Boulevard on the Silver Lake–Echo Park line, for his 2000 album. After Smith's death in 2003 the wall became a spontaneous shrine layered with fan messages, and it has been repainted and partly cut away in the years since.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)Miami · exact
Automatic for the People — R.E.M. (1992)
Sinbad Motel. Michael Stipe photographed the 'Sputnik' star ornament on the sign of the Sinbad Motel at 6150 Biscayne Boulevard, near Criteria Studios where much of the album was recorded.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)1990s · Alternative, Folk
New York · exact
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan — Bob Dylan (1963)
Jones Street at West 4th, Greenwich Village. Don Hunstein photographed Dylan and Suze Rotolo walking down Jones Street near their West 4th Street apartment in February 1963.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)New York · exact
Blonde on Blonde — Bob Dylan (1966)
375 West Street. Jerry Schatzberg shot the blurred cover on Manhattan's far West Side in winter 1966; the blur resulted from camera shake in the cold.
New York · exact
Strange Days — The Doors (1967)
Sniffen Court, Murray Hill. Joel Brodsky photographed a troupe of acrobats, jugglers and a strongman in this gated 19th-century carriage-house mews off East 36th Street.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)New York · exact
The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground (1967)
Andy Warhol's Factory, 231 East 47th Street. Warhol designed the peelable banana sleeve at his silver-foil-lined Factory studio, the band's home base in 1966.
New York · exact
Physical Graffiti — Led Zeppelin (1975)
96–98 St. Mark's Place, East Village. The five-story tenements at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place were photographed for the die-cut sleeve. The same buildings later appeared in the Rolling Stones' "Waiting on a Friend" video.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)New York · approximate
Horses — Patti Smith (1975)
Sam Wagstaff's apartment, One Fifth Avenue. Robert Mapplethorpe shot the portrait in natural afternoon light at his patron Sam Wagstaff's penthouse — Smith in white shirt, suspenders, jacket slung over her shoulder.
New York · exact
Ramones — Ramones (1976)
Albert's Garden, East Village. Roberta Bayley photographed the band against a brick wall at Albert's Garden, a small community garden on East 2nd Street, after a CBGB shoot fell through.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)New York · exact
London Calling — The Clash (1979)
The Palladium, 126 East 14th Street. Pennie Smith caught Paul Simonon smashing his Fender Precision bass onstage at the Palladium on 21 September 1979 — a frustrated swing that became the defining image of punk.
New York · exact
Paul's Boutique — Beastie Boys (1989)
Beastie Boys Square (Ludlow & Rivington Streets). The gatefold panorama was shot looking down Ludlow Street from 99 Rivington Street; the 'Paul's Boutique' sign was hung for the shoot, and the corner was renamed Beastie Boys Square in 2023.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)New York · exact
Vampire Weekend — Vampire Weekend (2008)
St. Anthony Hall, Columbia University. The cover is a Polaroid of the chandelier inside St. Anthony Hall (434 Riverside Drive), a Columbia University society, snapped at one of the band's early shows.
Pasadena · exact
Nevermind — Nirvana (1991)
Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Kirk Weddle photographed four-month-old Spencer Elden underwater at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena over a quick afternoon shoot.
1990s · Rock, Alternative
Queens, New York · exact
Illmatic — Nas (1994)
Queensbridge Houses. The cover composites Danny Clinch's portrait of a young Nas over a photograph of the Queensbridge projects where he grew up — the largest public-housing development in North America.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)San Diego · exact
Pet Sounds — The Beach Boys (1966)
San Diego Zoo. George Jerman shot the band feeding goats at San Diego Zoo — a quietly literal reading of the title that Brian Wilson came to dislike.
Utica, Indiana · approximate
Spiderland — Slint (1991)
Flooded limestone quarry. Will Oldham photographed the four band members treading water in an abandoned flooded limestone quarry near Utica in Clark County, Indiana.
1990s · Alternative, Rock, Indie
Washington, D.C. · inspired
To Pimp a Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar (2015)
The White House. The black-and-white cover composites a group of Lamar's friends celebrating on the White House lawn; it was assembled as a montage rather than photographed on site.
West Saugerties, New York · exact
Music from Big Pink — The Band (1968)
Big Pink, 56 Parnassus Lane. The album was written and demoed at the pink-clapboard house in the Catskills where the Band lived with Bob Dylan in 1967 — used here as both title and place.
United Kingdom
Liverpool · exact
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not — Arctic Monkeys (2006)
Korova Bar. The grainy black-and-white portrait of friend-of-the-band Chris McClure was taken at Liverpool's Korova Bar after a heavy night out.
London · exact
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band — The Beatles (1967)
Chelsea Manor Studios. Michael Cooper photographed the assembled tableau of life-sized cutouts on a set built by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth inside Chelsea Manor Studios.
London · exact
Abbey Road — The Beatles (1969)
Abbey Road zebra crossing. Iain Macmillan shot the four Beatles crossing this zebra crossing outside EMI Studios on the morning of 8 August 1969. The crossing has since been Grade II listed.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)London · exact
Animals — Pink Floyd (1977)
Battersea Power Station. Hipgnosis photographed the Grade II*-listed power station with a 40-foot inflatable pig, 'Algie', floating between its chimneys in December 1976. On the second day the pig broke free and drifted into Heathrow's flight path, grounding flights. The station closed in 1983 and reopened in 2022 as a shops-and-flats redevelopment.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)London · exact
Parklife — Blur (1994)
Walthamstow Stadium greyhound track. Stylorouge photographed greyhounds rounding the bend at Walthamstow Stadium in East London — a vanished slice of working-class British leisure.
London · exact
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? — Oasis (1995)
Berwick Street, Soho. Michael Spencer Jones photographed Berwick Street — Soho's independent record-shop row — for Brian Cannon's Microdot design. The two figures passing on the street are a design assistant and the album's producer Owen Morris, the blurred passer-by holding the DAT master tape over his face.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)1990s · Alternative, Rock
Manchester · exact
Definitely Maybe — Oasis (1994)
Bonehead's living room, Cromwell Road. Michael Spencer Jones staged the band among carefully chosen objects — a globe, a wine bottle, a George Best photo, a Burt Bacharach LP — in guitarist Bonehead's front room in Didsbury.
1990s · Alternative, Rock
England
Birmingham · approximate
Led Zeppelin IV — Led Zeppelin (1971)
Salisbury Tower, Ladywood. The back-cover photograph shows now-demolished Victorian terraces in front of Birmingham's Salisbury Tower, contrasting old and new Britain; the front 'stick man' was a framed antique picture, not a place.
Isleworth, London · exact
Band On The Run — Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
Osterley Park. Clive Arrowsmith shot the 'prison breakout' cover against a brick wall in the grounds of Osterley Park on 28 October 1973, lit by a single searchlight.
London · exact
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars — David Bowie (1972)
23 Heddon Street. Brian Ward photographed Bowie outside his studio at 23 Heddon Street on a wet January night in 1972; the 'K. West' furrier sign hung above his head, and a commemorative plaque now marks the spot.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)Mapledurham, Oxfordshire · exact
Black Sabbath — Black Sabbath (1970)
Mapledurham Watermill. The debut cover shows a cloaked figure before the 15th-century Mapledurham Watermill on the River Thames, photographed by Vertigo designer Marcus Keef.
France
Paris · exact
Lonerism — Tame Impala (2012)
Jardin du Luxembourg. Kevin Parker shot the cover on a Diana F+ toy camera through a gate of the Jardin du Luxembourg, on Rue Auguste Comte looking toward the Palais du Luxembourg.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)
Northern Ireland
County Antrim · exact
Houses of the Holy — Led Zeppelin (1973)
Giant's Causeway. Hipgnosis photographed siblings Stefan and Samantha Gates over several dawns and dusks on the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway, then multi-printed them to create the climbing figures.
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) · inspired
Rage Against the Machine — Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Thich Quang Duc memorial. The cover uses Malcolm Browne's Pulitzer-winning photograph of monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolating at a Saigon intersection on 11 June 1963; a memorial now stands near the spot.
▸ Then & Now (Street View)
Know a location we've missed?
This map is a starting point, not a finished atlas. If you can point us to the exact spot a cover was photographed — or you took the photograph — please get in touch. See our editorial policy for how we verify and credit submissions.