Real estate developer Constantine Valhouli, best known for (hilariously) tricking a bunch of people on Facebook with a fake story about Jack Kerouac, has created a map of a great many (but obviously not all) of the New York City locations that have been mentioned in famous songs. It's a pretty eclectic mix, in some ways predictable (punk has a strong presence in Alphabet City) and in other ways, kind of surprising — for instance, as The Atlantic points out, one stretch of Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn has been referenced by Jay-Z, Bob Dylan, and M.O.P. Perhaps the true value of the map, though, is informing songwriters which parts of New York City haven't been referenced yet. Did you know that, apparently, no one has written a song about the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir? Somebody ought to get on that.
Valhouli says he crowdsourced the research for the map by asking friends to suggest songs, and that he quickly received around 200 replies. Thanks to the already enthusiastic response, he has plans to expand it, so if you can think of any that are left out leave them in the comments and maybe he'll see them.
· New York City Musical References, Mapped [The Atlantic]
· Cool Map Things [Curbed]
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