Youth at Large: SOLVED

Bob Egan should watch his back!

In a lightning quick turnaround, a regular contributor to Manhattan Before 1990 on Facebook nailed the Sonic Youth shot mystery without so much as batting an eyelash.

Chung Wong cites the corner of Hanover and Exchange Place in the Financial District as the spot in question, and provided the visual to back up his claim! We have a match!

Chung also cited the below Eric Staller light drawing from 1970s at the same location.

Cl

Closing the deal, Chung mentione the 1985 video by Yoko Ono, "Hell in Paradise," as being filmed in the same spot ...about three years prior. Keen-eyed viewers may recognize the jerky, eccentric style of this video as being the signature of director Zbigniew Rybczynski, who gave similar treatments to "Close to the Edit" by Art of Noise (shot on the High Line) and "Original Wrapper" by Lou Reed (shot in TriBeCa). He's also the director of possibly my favorite video of all time, that being "All That I Wanted" by Belfegore. 

In any case, well done Chung!!!

Meanwhile, here's a bit more Sonic Youth -- in happier, younger days. This is an MTV News clip regarding their 1992 Central Park Summerstage appearance with Sun Ra. I was actually at this show (and wrote about it here).