Honestly speaking, I was never a big fan of the Byrds, despite the fact that they're continually cited as a major influence on a lot of artists I'm quite enamored of (Robyn Hitchcock, primarily among them). In any case, I first spotted this photo some years ago (I believe I saw a huge print of it at the Morrison Hotel Gallery over on Prince Street.) But, for some reason, I remembered the band in question as being the Eagles, not the Byrds. Who can blame me? They're both a bunch of hirsute Californians named after creatures of the air. Regardless, I was more struck by the location. When I spotted the photo again on J. Yuenger's site, I figured it's put it up here.
I don't know what year this pic was taken (or who took it -- maybe the late Jim Marshall?), but it depicts the Byrd boys strolling sheepishly down the middle of West 50th Street, heading east towards the veritable crotch of Rockefeller Center. It's a neighborhood I know all too well, being that I've worked in or around that particular cluster of buildings since about 1990 (apart from a year and half working at MTV News over in Times Square). That's the Time-Life building behind them to the right. This pic also pre-dates the construction of the Time-Life building's evil twin to the south, 1251 Avenue of the Americas. Today, this particular location looks like this.
Anyway, while I don't count myself as a fan, the Byrds did have their moments, notably the one below.
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