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Bob Dylan in a recording studio, looking down, in a work shirt
Bob Dylan in a Columbia studio, 1963. Don Hunstein · Public domain
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan singing together outdoors
With Joan Baez, March on Washington, 28 August 1963. Rowland Scherman · Public domain

Duluth · Hibbing · the Village · Newport · London · Manchester · Woodstock · Tulsa

Bob
Dylan

Nine places on cue cards, held up in front of the alley.

In May 1965 he held up cue cards in a London alley and let them fall, one by one. Here every card is a place he passed through, and most of them you can still stand in.

North country

A lake town,
then an iron town.

Robert Zimmerman, later Bob Dylan, was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Duluth on 24 May 1941. The family lived at 519 North Third Avenue East until 1948.

Bob Dylan WayDepotFitger’sArmory1.8 mi
A pale two-storey duplex on a hillside street
The house on North Third Avenue East, Duluth, 2016. Lorie Shaull · CC BY 2.0

Duluth · private

The first house, North Third Avenue East

The yellow duplex is a stop on Bob Dylan Way; its owner is the Dylan collector Bill Pagel.

A private house: see it only from the street. Named here, not mapped.

Liner notes
A stone brewery complex in winter beside the lake road
Fitger’s, on Bob Dylan Way, Duluth, 2016. David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0

Superior Street

Bob Dylan Way, Duluth

Bob Dylan Way is a 1.8-mile cultural pathway through downtown Duluth. It follows Superior Street from the Depot to the Armory, with 30 historical placards and a few decorative manhole covers. One of the Dylan manhole covers is outside the Fitger’s Brewing Complex; another is near the corner of the Armory.

Free, any time. Follow the brown, black and white signs along Superior Street from the Depot to the Armory; the pin is at Fitger’s.

Liner notes
A brick armory building with a long drill hall
The Duluth Armory and its drill hall, 2010. Minnesota Local History & Historic Preservation · CC BY-SA 2.0

January 1959

The Duluth Armory

Buddy Holly played the Duluth Armory in January 1959, and the teenage Robert Zimmerman was in the crowd.

Now called the Armory Arts & Music Center, it marks the end of Bob Dylan Way. A grassroots group bought the building in 2001; in 2022 The Current reported it was overseeing a $25 million restoration.

See it from London Road, at the east end of Bob Dylan Way.

Liner notes

Hibbing High School auditorium

Six chandeliers,
one broken pedal.

Its 1,825-seat auditorium has six Belgian crystal chandeliers and a 1922 Steinway grand.

The band is plugged in. You are the teacher.

He graduated from Hibbing High School on 5 June 1959. The Hibbing Public Library keeps a Bob Dylan exhibit, with a walking-tour map and podcast of the town.

A working school: see it from Bob Dylan Drive. The public library downtown keeps the Dylan exhibit and a walking-tour map.

Liner notes
A small 1950s kitchen with pale cabinets
The kitchen of the Zimmerman house, Hibbing, 2022. Lorie Shaull · CC BY 2.0

Hibbing · private

The Zimmerman house, Seventh Avenue East

Dylan lived at 2425 Seventh Avenue East, Hibbing, from 1948 to 1959.

A private house: drive by only, unless a sign on the lawn gives a number to call. Named here, not mapped.

Liner notes
A street sign reading Bob Dylan Drive
Bob Dylan Drive, Hibbing, 2022. Lorie Shaull · CC BY 2.0
Explore Minnesota

A Dylan tour of Minnesota

Duluth and Hibbing · Self-guided · free

The state’s own itinerary: Duluth, Bob Dylan Way, Hibbing and the library exhibit, with the walking map.

Get the itinerary

Greenwich Village, 1961–1963

Basements, Sundays
and a winter walk.

24 Jan 1961

Café Wha?

A Village street corner with a theatre sign and the Cafe Wha? entrance
115 MacDougal Street, Cafe Wha? below the theatre, 2015. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

On 24 January 1961, a cold Tuesday hootenanny, a 19-year-old Bob Dylan, just in from Minnesota, played there.

Manny Roth opened Café Wha? in 1959, in the basement of an old MacDougal Street horse stable. The original club closed in 1968; the Café Wha? name came back at 115 MacDougal in 1988. Across the street, at 116 MacDougal, was the Gaslight Poetry Café.

Still a music club, down the steps at 115 MacDougal. The Gaslight’s old address, 116, is across the street.

Liner notes

9 Apr 1961

Washington Square

A white marble triumphal arch at the end of a park path
The Washington Square Arch, 2017. Marco Almbauer · CC0

Folk musicians had been meeting in Washington Square Park on Sundays since the 1940s. On 9 April 1961, after the Parks Department refused them a permit, police with paddy wagons broke up a crowd of several hundred singers; the folk singers got their permit in the end.

In the park, Dylan learned finger-picking from experts.

A public park, open every day.

Liner notes

1962–63 · private

161 West 4th

A tree-lined Village street of low brick buildings
West 4th Street, Greenwich Village, 2022. Kidfly182 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dylan and Suze Rotolo lived together at 161 West 4th Street. In February 1963 the Freewheelin’ cover shoot began in their flat before moving out into the street.

Private flats: named here, not mapped. Jones Street is a short walk along West 4th.

Liner notes

Footprints in the slush

February 1963: from the flat on West 4th to the corner of Jones Street. Drag along the street, or take it a step at a time.

Still in the flat on West 4th.

A narrow Greenwich Village street of brick walk-ups
Jones Street in winter, 2022. Jim.henderson · CC BY-SA 4.0

February 1963 · Jones Street at West 4th

In February 1963 Columbia’s staff photographer Don Hunstein photographed Dylan and Suze Rotolo walking together through slushy streets on a cold afternoon.

NYC Tourism places the cover photograph of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan at Jones Street and West 4th Street. Its informal look was unlike the carefully composed images on most LP covers of the time.

A public street, any time. Stand at the West 4th Street end of Jones Street.

Liner notes
Washington Square Hotel

Washington Square Hotel

Greenwich Village, New York

A 1902 hotel at 103 Waverly Place, steps from the park. Café Wha? and Jones Street are a short walk. Pictured: the arch.

Check rooms
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Savoy Steps, London, May 1965

Hold it up.
Let it fall.

In May 1965 D. A. Pennebaker filmed Dylan dropping cue cards one by one in the alley behind London’s Savoy Hotel. Donovan, Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth helped him scrawl the words onto the flimsy cards. Neuwirth and Ginsberg are in the background, pretending to have a conversation.

The alley
A narrow London alley running down between brick walls
Savoy Steps, behind the Savoy, 2011. It's No Game · CC BY 2.0

Card 1 of 13

A pale two-storey duplex on a hillside street
The house on North Third Avenue East, Duluth, 2016. Lorie Shaull · CC BY 2.0

Duluth, Minnesota · 24 May 1941 · private

The first house, North Third Avenue East

Robert Zimmerman is born at St Mary’s Hospital, Duluth.

Robert Zimmerman, later Bob Dylan, was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Duluth on 24 May 1941.

The family lived at 519 North Third Avenue East until 1948.

A private house: see it only from the street. Named here, not mapped.

Liner notes

Card 1 of 13: DULUTH. The first house, North Third Avenue East.

Newport, Rhode Island · 25 July 1965

Acoustic.
For now.

Dylan played electric at the Newport Folk Festival at Festival Field on 25 July 1965. Festival Field was the 1965 festival venue; the present festival takes place at Fort Adams.

Liner notes

Unplugged: a folk festival, as the crowd expected.

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan singing together outdoors
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, 1963: the acoustic years. Rowland Scherman · Public domain
The granite walls of a coastal fort on a grassy rise
Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island. Mooncant · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams

Fort Adams is the present festival site; Dylan’s 1965 performance took place at Festival Field. Fort Adams is the largest coastal fortification in the United States; the Fort Adams Trust runs tours of its tunnels and bastions from May to October.

The state park is open to everyone. The Fort Adams Trust runs fort tours from May to October; the festival comes back each July.

Liner notes
Fort Adams Trust

Fort Adams tours

Newport, Rhode Island · May–October · ghost tours all year

Guided tours of the tunnels, casemates and bastions of the fort whose park now holds the Newport Folk Festival.

Book a tour

17 May 1966

The famous London concert
was in Manchester.

BOB DYLAN · LIVE 1966

Free Trade Hall, Manchester
17 May 1966

“Royal Albert Hall”

The label says London. Peel it.

On 17 May 1966, at the Free Trade Hall, someone in the audience shouted “Judas” after “Ballad of a Thin Man”.

The round red-brick Royal Albert Hall under a blue sky
The Royal Albert Hall, 2022. Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Royal Albert Hall

Don’t Look Back follows the spring 1965 tour from Sheffield to his final concert at the Albert Hall. He was back at the Hall on 26 and 27 May 1966. For decades the most famous 1966 live recording was credited to these Albert Hall nights. It was made in Manchester.

A working concert hall in Kensington: see a show, or book one of its guided tours.

Liner notes

261 km
between the hall on the label and the hall on the tape

A Victorian palazzo facade of arched windows
The Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, 2008. Bernt Rostad from Oslo, Norway · CC BY 2.0

The Free Trade Hall

The hall was built between 1853 and 1856 on St Peter’s Field, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now The Edwardian Manchester, a Radisson Collection hotel with 263 rooms.

Now a hotel: the facade on Peter Street is the hall’s own. Walk past any time, or stay the night.

Liner notes
Radisson Collection

The Edwardian Manchester

Peter Street, Manchester

The Free Trade Hall itself, rebuilt inside as a 263-room hotel behind the original Peter Street facade. You sleep where the shout came from.

See the hotel
The Savoy

The Savoy

Savoy Court, London

The hotel of 1889 on the Strand, with the cue-card alley, Savoy Steps, running down beside it. Pictured: the alley.

Check rooms
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A small-town main street with shops and trees
Tinker Street, Woodstock, 2020. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

Woodstock · 29 July 1966

The crash,
then the basement.

On 29 July 1966 Dylan came off his motorcycle on back roads near Woodstock, riding back from his manager Albert Grossman’s place in West Saugerties. No ambulance was called and no hospital visit was recorded.

He stayed at his Woodstock home through the rest of 1966 and into 1967, and did not tour again for eight years, apart from a handful of shows.

A small Catskills town, open to all. His houses here were private and are not listed.

Liner notes
A pink ranch house in a clearing in the woods
Big Pink, West Saugerties, 2023. Jonathan Schilling · CC BY-SA 4.0

West Saugerties · private

Big Pink, West Saugerties

After the 1966 crash, Dylan and the musicians who became the Band recorded in the basement of Big Pink. In 2015 the house was let to holidaymakers at $650 a night; the basement was not part of the rental.

A private house: not open, and not on the map.

Liner notes

Tape loaded. Summer 1967.

116 E. Reconciliation Way, Tulsa

The archive.
100,000 things he kept.

The Bob Dylan Center, a dark building with a large mural of Dylan
The Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa, 2024. G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0

The George Kaiser Family Foundation acquired Dylan’s archive in 2016, after Dylan learned of the Woody Guthrie Center nearby and wanted his archive under the same roof. The Bob Dylan Center opened in 2022.

The archive holds more than 100,000 items, among them handwritten lyrics, rare recordings and personal photographs. Its three-storey façade faces Guthrie Green and carries a mural of Dylan by Erik Burke.

Thin Wild Mercury, a rotating exhibit, is about Dylan in 1966.

Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–6pm. Adults $15 plus tax; 17 and under free. An audioguide is included.

Liner notes
A grey portable typewriter in a museum case
His Royal Caravan typewriter, Bob Dylan Center, 2023. NevinThompson · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bob Dylan Center

The Bob Dylan Center

Tulsa, Oklahoma · Wed–Sun 10am–6pm · adults $15 + tax

Rotating exhibits from an archive of more than 100,000 items, with an audioguide.

Plan a visit

Last card.

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, in four areas. The family houses in Duluth and Hibbing, the flat at 161 West 4th Street and Big Pink are private homes: named on this page, never mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Free, any time. Follow the brown, black and white signs along Superior Street from the Depot to the Armory; the pin is at Fitger’s.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. See it from London Road, at the east end of Bob Dylan Way.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working school: see it from Bob Dylan Drive. The public library downtown keeps the Dylan exhibit and a walking-tour map.

  1. A stone brewery complex in winter beside the lake road
    Fitger’s, on Bob Dylan Way, Duluth, 2016. David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0

    Superior Street, Duluth

    Bob Dylan Way, Duluth

    Bob Dylan Way is a 1.8-mile cultural pathway through downtown Duluth.

    Free, any time. Follow the brown, black and white signs along Superior Street from the Depot to the Armory; the pin is at Fitger’s.

    Liner notes
  2. A brick armory building with a long drill hall
    The Duluth Armory and its drill hall, 2010. Minnesota Local History & Historic Preservation · CC BY-SA 2.0

    London Road, Duluth

    The Duluth Armory

    Buddy Holly played the Duluth Armory in January 1959, and the teenage Robert Zimmerman was in the crowd.

    See it from London Road, at the east end of Bob Dylan Way.

    Liner notes
  3. A long brick school with a central tower
    Hibbing High School, 800 East 21st Street, 2023. Tony Webster from Laramie, Wyoming, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Bob Dylan Drive, Hibbing

    Hibbing High School

    He graduated from Hibbing High School on 5 June 1959.

    A working school: see it from Bob Dylan Drive. The public library downtown keeps the Dylan exhibit and a walking-tour map.

    Liner notes

Stay

Sleep near the stage.

In the Free Trade Hall itself, at the Savoy beside the cue-card alley, or a block from Washington Square.

Radisson Collection

The Edwardian Manchester

Peter Street, Manchester

The Free Trade Hall itself, rebuilt inside as a 263-room hotel behind the original Peter Street facade. You sleep where the shout came from.

See the hotel
The Savoy

The Savoy

Savoy Court, London

The hotel of 1889 on the Strand, with the cue-card alley, Savoy Steps, running down beside it. Pictured: the alley.

Check rooms
Washington Square Hotel

Washington Square Hotel

Greenwich Village, New York

A 1902 hotel at 103 Waverly Place, steps from the park. Café Wha? and Jones Street are a short walk. Pictured: the arch.

Check rooms

Go there

Walk in.

The archive in Tulsa, the fort at Newport, the state’s own Minnesota route, and walks in the Village and London.

Bob Dylan Center

The Bob Dylan Center

Tulsa, Oklahoma · Wed–Sun 10am–6pm · adults $15 + tax

Rotating exhibits from an archive of more than 100,000 items, with an audioguide.

Plan a visit
Fort Adams Trust

Fort Adams tours

Newport, Rhode Island · May–October · ghost tours all year

Guided tours of the tunnels, casemates and bastions of the fort whose park now holds the Newport Folk Festival.

Book a tour
Explore Minnesota

A Dylan tour of Minnesota

Duluth and Hibbing · Self-guided · free

The state’s own itinerary: Duluth, Bob Dylan Way, Hibbing and the library exhibit, with the walking map.

Get the itinerary
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New York

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What’s on

This week in Tulsa.

A solo show and a free family folk day from the Bob Dylan Center.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

Posters, books and records.

Three originals from our store, including Glaser’s 1967 poster, his own books, and the records from these streets.

Printed Originals · Our poster store

Bob Dylan — Don’t Look Back (1967)

An original 1967 poster for Pennebaker’s film, the one that opens in the Savoy alley. Art by Alan Aldridge, mint.

Available framed

View poster
Printed Originals · Our poster store

Bob Dylan — Milton Glaser (1967)

Milton Glaser’s original 1967 poster, previously folded as issued, near mint.

Available framed

View poster
Printed Originals · Our poster store

Bob Dylan — On Columbia Records (1966)

An original 1966 record-shop poster from the electric year. Art by Christopher Peterson, mint.

Available framed

View poster
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Chronicles: Volume One

Bob Dylan

His own memoir.

Find the book
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The Philosophy of Modern Song

Bob Dylan

His essays on other people’s songs.

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The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan · LP reissue, 2012

The Jones Street cover.

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Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan · LP, UK pressing, 1965

The first electric summer, on record.

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Live 1966: The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert

Bob Dylan · 2 × LP, 1998

Recorded in Manchester, whatever the sleeve says.

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The Basement Tapes

Bob Dylan and the Band · 2 × LP, 1975

The Big Pink sessions, released in 1975.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

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Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The liner notes

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

17 of 17 places · 13 of 13 Moments

  • The first house, North Third Avenue East

    Duluth, Minnesota

    • Born in Duluth

      Robert Zimmerman is born at St Mary’s Hospital, Duluth.

  • Bob Dylan Way, Duluth

    Superior Street, Duluth

    • The Duluth Armory

      London Road, Duluth

      • Buddy Holly at the Armory

        Buddy Holly plays the Duluth Armory, with the teenage Robert Zimmerman in the crowd.

    • The Zimmerman house, Seventh Avenue East

      Hibbing, Minnesota

      • Hibbing High School

        Bob Dylan Drive, Hibbing

        • Graduation

          He graduates from Hibbing High School.

      • Café Wha?, 115 MacDougal Street

        MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village

        • The first night

          A 19-year-old just in from Minnesota plays a Tuesday hootenanny at Café Wha?

      • 161 West 4th Street

        West 4th Street, Greenwich Village

        • Jones Street, the Freewheelin’ corner

          Jones Street at West 4th Street

          • The cover

            Don Hunstein photographs Dylan and Suze Rotolo in the slush for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

        • Washington Square Park

          Greenwich Village

          • The folk riot

            Police break up the Sunday folk singers in Washington Square; the singers win their permit back.

        • Festival Field, Newport

          Former festival site on Connell Highway, Newport, Rhode Island; boundaries not established

          • Electric

            Dylan plays electric at the Newport Folk Festival at Festival Field.

        • The Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams

          Fort Adams State Park, Newport, Rhode Island

          • Woodstock, New York

            Ulster County, New York

            • The crash

              He comes off his motorcycle near Woodstock.

          • Big Pink, West Saugerties

            West Saugerties, New York

            • The basement

              Dylan and the future Band record in the basement of Big Pink.

          • Savoy Steps, behind the Savoy

            off the Strand, London

            • The cue cards

              Dylan drops cue cards one by one in the alley behind the Savoy.

          • The Royal Albert Hall

            Kensington Gore, London

            • The last acoustic night

              The 1965 England tour ends at the Albert Hall.

          • The Free Trade Hall, Manchester

            Peter Street, Manchester

            • “Judas”

              A shout from the audience in Manchester, and Dylan’s answer.

          • The Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa

            116 E. Reconciliation Way, Tulsa, Oklahoma

            • The archive goes to Tulsa

              His archive is acquired for Tulsa; the Bob Dylan Center opens there six years later.

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