The band Big Star got their name from a grocery store located here, part of the Big Star chain of supermarkets in Memphis in the 60s and 70s. This building, currently occupied by an auto shop, is located across the street from the old Ardent Studios where Big Star recorded their first album.

view full location details...

Ardent Studios, home to the in-house label Ardent Records, was located on National Street in Memphis after founder John Fry moved the studio there from his family's garage in 1966. This is where Big Star recorded their first album #1 Record. Led Zeppelin III was mixed here in 1970, and Ardent also recorded sessions for Stax Records.

In 1971 the studio moved to its current location, where they would go on to work with hundreds of bands including the Replacements, R.E.M. and the White Stripes. This building on National now houses a small deli.

view full location details...

In the early 70s, before it was just a depressing place to eat Guy Fieri-themed burgers with your coworkers, T.G.I. Friday's was actually a popular hangout for the hip crowd, at least in Memphis. A photo shot by William Eggleston on the back of Big Star's second album Radio City shows Jody Stephens, Andy Hummel and Alex Chilton partying down at the former Overton Square location.

The original T.G.I. Friday's was located in New York, but it was first franchised at this spot in Memphis in 1970 where it stayed until 2003.

view full location details...

This is the former location of "The Church," a Hermosa Beach hub for the West Coast's early punk rock scene. The former Baptist church was in disrepair in the late 70s when the owners began to rent it out to musicians and artists. Black Flag used it as a practice space and Ron Reyes lived in the church after he took over as Black Flag's frontman in 1979.

A steakhouse, complete with graffitied walls intended to honor the punk spirit of the former location, now occupies the spot where the church used to be.

view full location details...

The photo on the cover of Big L's 1995 debut Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous was taken on the corner of Lenox Avenue and West 139th Street in Harlem.

On the album Big L calls 139 and Lenox the "Danger Zone," which I guess it is. In 1999 he was shot and killed during a drive-by not even a block away when he was only 24.

view full location details...