I have been a Billy Joel fan since the early 70s. I have seen him in concert many times, but I have never had the pleasure of meeting him. On my recent trip to New York, I did walk in his footsteps a bit. In planning the trip, I knew we had a few hours to kill. Since Billy is a New York native, I decided to try to locate some famous sites from Billy’s life. Thanks to Bob Egan’s website Pop Spots NYC, I found the location of three of his album cover pictures.

For Turnstiles, released in 1976, Billy posed at the turnstiles of the uptown side of the Astor Place subway station (Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue). Billy played in several clubs in this area. This was easy to find but difficult to photograph due to the usual subway volume of people.

Billy’s 52^nd Street (released in 1978) presented a little more of a challenge. Billy leaned against the building on 52^nd Street, just east of Seventh Avenue in Times Square. The building/block has changed quite a bit, but thanks to Egan’s efforts, I found the exact spot where Billy leaned.

The cover for 1983’s Innocent Man was shot at 142 Mercer St. in Soho. The belief is that the stoop was chosen to pay homage to the doo-wop sounds of the album. There were several people eating lunch on the steps, but they volunteered to move so I could get a solo picture on the steps. Score one for the politeness of New Yorkers. More internet research provides a lot of other Billy landmarks, like his childhood home, the house pictured on Glass Houses and the restaurant thought to be the one referenced in Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. We did not have time to visit all of these spots, but I will be looking to find more Billy spots on future trips to New York. — John Wroblewski, online contributor