New York Album Cover Locations
No city has posed for more record sleeves than New York. Its density did it — the folk clubs of Greenwich Village, the punk stoops of the East Village, the Lower East Side that Paul's Boutique turned into a corner monument, a Queens housing project that raised a whole genre. When a photographer needed a backdrop with an attitude already built in, the street outside was usually enough.
This is a map of those streets — the New York covers we can trace to an exact spot, with the story of each shoot and a link to the full history. Several sit within a short walk of each other downtown, so you can follow them on foot; the rest are scattered from Murray Hill to Morningside Heights to Long Island City. Pins are colour-coded by how sure we are of the frame.
Showing 11 of 11 locations.
ExactApproximateInspired / fictional / unknown
Walk it
Some of these stops sit within a short walk of each other. Here's a route that strings them together.
The downtown Village walk
A walkable run through Greenwich Village, the East Village and the Lower East Side — arguably the densest square mile of album-cover history anywhere. Roughly two miles end to end, or dip in wherever you like.
Every New York cover on the map
11 covers · in chronological order
01 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Yes — the corner of Jones and West 4th is a public street, and the block still looks much as it did when Dylan and Suze Rotolo walked down it in 1963.
02 · Exact spot
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.
03 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Sniffen Court is a private gated mews off East 36th Street — you can see the courtyard through the iron gate.
04 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Andy Warhol's original Factory at 231 East 47th Street was torn down in the 1960s; an office block occupies the site today.
05 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Yes — 96–98 St. Mark's Place is a public block, and the stoop is a low-key pilgrimage site (the same buildings feature in a Rolling Stones video).
06 · Approximate area
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.
07 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Albert's Garden is a private community garden on East 2nd Street, open to the public on select days.
08 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? The Palladium on East 14th Street was demolished in 1998; an NYU residence hall stands on the site now.
09 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Yes — the corner of Ludlow and Rivington was co-named Beastie Boys Square in 2023.
10 · Exact spot
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.
Can you visit? Queensbridge Houses is a residential complex — view it respectfully from the street; it remains the largest public-housing development in North America.
11 · Exact spot
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.
Then & Now
The cover, and the exact spot today — drag the panorama to look around, the way the photographer once did.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan — Bob Dylan
Jones Street at West 4th, Greenwich Village · New York
Strange Days — The Doors
Sniffen Court, Murray Hill · New York
Physical Graffiti — Led Zeppelin
96–98 St. Mark's Place, East Village · New York
Ramones — Ramones
Albert's Garden, East Village · New York
Paul's Boutique — Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys Square (Ludlow & Rivington Streets) · New York
Illmatic — Nas
Queensbridge Houses · Queens, New York
Frequently asked
- What famous album covers were photographed in New York?
- Among many others: Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Jones Street), Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti (St. Mark's Place), the Ramones' debut (Albert's Garden), Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique (Ludlow & Rivington), Patti Smith's Horses, and Nas's Illmatic (Queensbridge Houses in Queens).
- Can you visit these album cover locations?
- Most are public streets you can stand on today — Jones Street, St. Mark's Place, Beastie Boys Square. A few are private (Albert's Garden, Sniffen Court) or have been demolished (the Palladium, the original Factory). Each entry on this page notes what's there now.
- What is the most famous New York album cover location?
- The corner of Jones Street and West 4th, where Don Hunstein photographed The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963, is probably the most recognised — closely followed by the St. Mark's Place tenements on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti.
- Are the coordinates exact?
- Pins marked "exact" point at the spot the photographer stood; "approximate" means we know the area but not the precise frame. Each pin's confidence is shown on the map and in the list below.
- How are the locations verified?
- From photographers' own accounts, contemporaneous records, and cross-referenced reporting — see our editorial policy for how we source and grade each one.