Hey again, all....
Okay, some developments. Since I posted the answers (such as they were) to the Flaming Pablum Photo Quiz, I've been treated to several messages from readers looking to help fill in the blanks (and prize that elusive and still-as-of-yet-entirely-nonexistent Flaming Pablum t-shirt). While there were more than a couple of pictures still in need of accurate geographical pinpointing, the one that was stumping me the most was the above shot of the Beastie Boys circa 1984, taken by Josh Cheuse. I was convinced that it had to have been taken somewhere in the Village. It became, as I called it, my Holy Grail of trivia.
Well, leave it to an architect to get it right.
While lots of folks wrote in, the first person to accurately name the spot in the Josh Cheuse shots was a keen-eyed architecture buff. And guess what? I was way the hell off.
This user writes....
The Beastie Boys (with Rick "DJ Double-R" Rubin) image was taken at the SW corner of Broadway and 26th Street. It's a corner of the St. James Building at 1133 Broadway with its rounded torus moulding at the base and its unusual flattened quoins at the corner (big clue). Check out this Google Streetview.
The second Cheuse shot (which nailed it) looks south down Broadway to Union Square, and you can spy the distinctive silhouette of the McIntyre Building all the way down at the NE corner of Broadway and 18th. Just visible north of it is the unusually massing of the early skyscraper at 902 Broadway between 20th and 21st Streets. There is the barest sliver of the Flatiron Building which can be made out just above the silhouette of the pedestrian in the background of the shot.
Well, there ya go. Who knew it was all about torus moulding and quoins? Go figure. Another crucial one solved. Below are two shots of the very spot, featuring myself and my little five year old son Oliver.
There are more to come, so please check back. For the sake of posterity, here are the Beasties from around the same period. Play very loud...
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