Sorry, but I’m still obsessing about this.
A few folks have lobbed some suggestions my way in terms of divining the location featured in the photograph of the Lunachicks I’ve been losing sleep over, but none have, as yet, accurately pinpointed the spot. KNOW THIS: I will find it.
The most promising recent idea, however, came from a reader named Zubie, who writes...
That partial perpendicular COST(REVS) tag to me, does place it in Nolita; given those two's perpetual graffitos early '90s in said area. I'll guess the vantage is the from the north side of Bond closer to Broadway, facing east with what looks like that stoic 2nd Ave at Bowery water tower in the right background????
I'm inclined to agree with Zubie on these points, given that Nolita was indeed the epicenter of COST and REVS during that era. I snapped the above photo of their once-ubiquitous tags back in the `90s on Prince Street, just west of the Bowery.
But beyond that fleeting bit of graffiti, the little architectural, old New York flourishes also match up to the type found around NoLiTa.
In the unlikely event that you are unfamiliar with the term, "NoLita" is a relatively recent appellation -- invariably concocted by real estate developers -- that essentially truncates "North Little Italy" into a single word (see also TriBeCa, SoHo, NoHo, FiDi, etc.). Opinions may be divided on where NoLita's actual borders are, but the map below should give you a pretty reasonable approximation.
With that above map in mind, I've been criss-crossing these exact streets on weekends with my kids and on my walk home from work way downtown, scouring the edifices and looking for a match. Once again, it's that two layered facade behind Becky Wreck that keeps haunting me. I know I've walked by it fairly recently. But, thus far, I've yet to put my hand to it.
Granted, there's so much development all around town, these days, that said wall could very well be obscured by newly-erected scaffolding or a sidewalk shed, but I feel like I've seen in so recently.
I may stop mentioning it for a while in the hopes that it either just occurs to me, or that I finally stumble back upon it on my marches around downtown.
And before you ask, I have indeed reached out to the ladies themselves (well, guitarist Gina Volpe, at least), but she's either found my request too asinine or hasn't read it as yet. Not holding my breath on that one.
Once again, here are the ladies in question firing on all cylinders circa a reunion show at CB's in 2002.
BONUS BEATS: In searching for clues to the origins of that laboriously over-cited photograph, I did a random Google search using the terms "Lunachicks" and "East Village," and up came the curious clip below. Here's what its creator, Robert Lyrons, has to say about it:
The first actual MTV logo I ever shot was this one by Director Daniel Nauke. Shot on a Master Oxberry animation stand camera in 1983 while I was working free-lance at Francis Lee's, Film Planning Associates in NYC, this spot combined traditional cel animation shot as a series of cross dissolves for the changing colors of the MTV logo that were laid over photo animation replacements for the East Village background and man with the guitar case. Finally back-lit colors were shot as an additional exposure for the changing colors in the buildings windows. Music is "You Missed It" (intro) by The Lunachicks.
Here's the clip in question. Anyone wanna name this corner?
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