NYC Album Art: Strange Days

After we posted about Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album cover yesterday, we thought we'd do a series of posts on album covers featuring this city. Next up is The Doors Strange Days cover, photographed by Joel Brodsky.

Since Jim Morrison refused to appear on the cover of the album, Brodsky drew inspiration from Federico Fellini's 1954 circus film, La Strada, and photographed a group of acrobats and jugglers on the streets. Apparently they had trouble finding models, since most circuses were out on summer tours. The trumpet player is actually a cabbie that the art director grabbed from a passing cab. He offered him $5 to appear in the shot, and the driver apparently called him later and asked where he could further his modeling career. The muscleman was the doorman at The Friars Club.

The location of the photoshoot was Sniffen Court (named after architect John Sniffen) and can be found at 150–158 East 36th Street. Wow, something might actually get us to go to Murray Hill. If you don't want to go, you can watch this video of Sniffen Court. The back cover of the album can be seen here.