Wednesday 2 June 2010

Is This The Ampitheatre From Wild Style?


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As the title says....is it?
Unfortunately there is no Google Street View close enough to check but this aerial view looks promising.
Going on the adverts in my Wild Style Sampler book, it is "4 blocks south of Houston St" or "Delancey St" depending on which advert you read.
At least it's still around.

Talking of which, I haven't read that book since I got it 3 years ago and as I cracked it open again tonight it still had that lovely 'new book' smell. Beautiful.

If anyone can shed any light on the whereabouts of the location of the Wild Style mural then that would be double def fresh.
All I know is that it was done in Riverside Park in NY. But one Google search later and I realise that Riverside Park is big. Very Big.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's the one Grandmaster Caz directed myself and a friend to after the Hip Hop Tour.

The back and sides have gone that were in the movie, but we both knew it was the one featured in the film.

Nice bit of nostalgia there.

Repo said...

Thankyou Anonymous.
I've heard about those tours that GM Caz does. He sits on the bus with you and gives a running commentary of the sights. I'd love to go on one.

Jiglo said...

Sorry, I wasn't sure how to post my name, Ben.

Despite us knowing roughly where to find the amphitheatre, it still took us around 4 hours to find it as nobody living nearby seemed to know that it was even there, let alone it's history in hip hop. We each took a few photo's and tried to imagine how amazing it must have been to have had a ticket for either of the 2 shows.

Thanks for your great site too, Ben. It was an amazing time to be growing up in the early 80's, with the reports coming in from New York about the phenomena happening there, then eventually watching it take off over here.

I'm still collecting the old vinyl and searching for new b-boy breaks. It's great to know there's others out there still loving it too.

Repo said...

Great story, Jiglo! If you ever feel like sending any photos for me to put up then I'd be truly honoured.
What other landmarks did you manage to visit?
I've been to NYC once myself but only for a short stay and did the usual tourist things. One day I'll make the pilgrimage over and do the alternative sightseeing trip!

Jiglo said...

Yeah, Ben, i'd recommend Hush Tours hip hop tour to everyone with a love of old school hip hop. you really get a good insight into the history when you get to see some of the places first hand. Like...

1520 Sedgwick avenue. Where Herc rocked his first party in 73 and eventually had to move it outside because the crowd got too big.
Harlem World - late 70's mecca for hip hop, drawing people from all over the 5 Boroughs.
Graffiti Hall of fame (from the outside, it was closed when we were there unfortunately)
A few other party spots too while learning about the 5 elements of hip hop, listening to Caz mcing as we went, the style, the mindset of a b-boy and more. He answered questions that we had too.

A great way to spend a few hours.

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