Bedford–Stuyvesant

Music spots

• Venue

  The Blue Coronet

  1969

  A Bed-Stuy jazz club, now shut. Its owner told The Independent Ear that Miles Davis played there regularly, that Thelonious Monk drew crowds, and that Etta Jones played it many times. A 1969 bootleg of Davis's quintet is the only known live recording made at the club, per The Independent Ear.

  The Independent Ear ↗

  • MDMiles Davis
  • TMThelonious Monk
  • EJEtta Jones

• Venue

  Birdel’s Records

  1980–1989

  A Bed-Stuy record store that closed in 2011. Hardy Joe Long, who began working at the shop as a clerk in 1957 and later owned it, remembers a young Christopher Wallace, later the Notorious B.I.G., coming in during the 1980s, and letting him take records into the basement to listen with a friend, per DNAinfo.

  DNAinfo ↗

  • NBThe Notorious B.I.G.

• Mural

  “King of New York” mural

  2015

  Created in 2015 by Rocko and Zimer of Spread Art NYC; legend has it this is one of the corners where a teenage Biggie freestyled, per NYC Tourism.

  NYC Tourism ↗

  ▶Watch ↗

  • NBThe Notorious B.I.G.