The Peppermint Lounge was a disco in Times Square from 1958 to 1965. It was popular in the early 60's as the origination point for the popular "Twist" dance craze. It gets referenced in Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" when he mentions "a place/Somewhere up a New York way/Where the People are so gay". The Beatles visited the Peppermint Lounge on their first US tour in 1964.

The Peppermint Lounge changed its named several times and was a mob-run gay bar from 1965 to 1980.

In November of 1980, the Peppermint Lounge was reopened as a punk and new wave music venue. On March 15, 1981, Black Flag played their first show in New York. For many New Yorkers, this was their first exposure to this particular strain of punk rock. MCA, Mike D. and the rest of the early Beastie Boys were at this show, and they were inspired to start a hardcore band.

Legend has it that Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye were also at the show, as were a contingent of D.C. hardcore fans, who chanted "Georgetown punks!" and dominated the audience.

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Beastie Boys flyer for a Max's show (featuring hand-drawn Ernie and Bert) from Some Old Bullshit.

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On the SE corner of W Broadway and White St, in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York, a short-lived punk and new wave club existed from 1979 to December 1980.

Hilary Jaeger was working as a waitress at Tier 3 (or TR3) in the spring of 1979 when she began booking shows at the 300-capacity venue. The club mixed punk and new wave music with the experimental film and art scenes of Downtown.

TR3 had three floors, a mural that was painted by Basquiat, and also one painted by Kiki Smith.

The Lounge Lizards played one of their first shows at TR3, and played many times after that. Other New York bands included The dB's, DNA, The Stimulators, The Bush Tetras, 8 Eyed Spy with Lydia Lunch, and The Raybeats.

It is likely that Madness played their first US show at TR3 in 1979. There is a picture of a flyer promoting a TR3 show in the liner notes of the Beastie Boys Some Old Bullshit, so they must have played there as well.

The venue was evicted in December of 1980.

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Great Gildersleeves was the other rock/punk music venue on the Bowery in the late 70's and early 80's. Although it never reached the level of infamy of CBGB's, G.G. saw its share of major shows.

On April 1, 1979, Elvis Costello played here in a series of three NYC shows immediately after "the Ray Charles incident."

The Beastie Boys used to play here in their hardcore days ('82 and '83). On April 24, 1983, Adam Horovitz's band, The Young and the Useless, opened for Hüsker Dü and the Replacements (this was before he joined the Beastie Boys).

Sonic Youth played their 2nd show here on June 3, 1981.

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Beastie Boy Mike D attended the prestigious private school, the Walden School.

The Walden School was founded by Margaret Naumburg in 1914. The school became a model for progressive education, and embraced “individual transformation” as an education principle, encouraging creative expression and self-motivated learning.

While in high school, Mike D was in a band called the Young Aborigines with drummer Kate Schellenbach. According to Mike D, they had only one fan, MCA, so when they quit the band after two shows, they reformed as the Beastie Boys.

The Walden School merged with the New Lincoln School in 1988, and the location is currently home to the Trevor Day School.

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