Queens · Widnes · Johannesburg · Salvador · Central Park
A Queens kid who wrote a song about going home on a northern English platform, near Widnes by his own account, then kept leaving for other people’s rhythm: Alabama, Johannesburg, Salvador. Open his places like an accordion.
Queens, 1941 to 1963
New York kids call hopscotch potsy. Toss the marker, hop to it, and each square chalks up a piece of his Queens.
Nothing chalked yet. Toss the marker onto square 1.
Kew Gardens Hills · named, not mapped
He grew up in a Colonial rowhouse of about 1946 in Kew Gardens Hills; Art Garfunkel was raised in the same neighbourhood. Both went to PS 164 and Parsons Junior High, then Forest Hills High School, and both graduated in 1958.
His boyhood home is a private house: the neighbourhood is named here, the house is not mapped.
Queens College
He went to Queens College and graduated there. After Queens College he spent a short time at Brooklyn Law School.
A working college campus: walk the quad, and respect classes.
Forest Hills Stadium
America’s first tennis stadium, from 1923, it became a concert venue in 1960. Simon & Garfunkel played here in 1966, 1967, 1968 and twice in July 1970; in 1967 the Doors opened for them.
A working concert stadium, open on show days: check the calendar before you go.
The duo, briefly
As Tom & Jerry they reached the Top 50 in 1957, at 15, with “Hey, Schoolgirl”, and mimed it on Bandstand. Their own story has its own World; this one follows him.
Widnes, Monday 13 September 1965
On 13 September 1965 he played the Howff Folk Club at the Grosvenor Hotel in Widnes, for £12.
He said “Homeward Bound” was written in a railway station in the north of England; he had played Widnes and Warrington, and it was around there. In a station somewhere around Widnes and Warrington, by his own account, he writes “Homeward Bound”.
Harp Lager put a stainless-steel plaque on the eastbound platform. It was stolen, and so was its replacement. Students at Warrington Collegiate Institute made a brass, thief-proof plaque; it is on the westbound platform.
A working station. The brass plaque is on the westbound platform.
The guide, as an accordion
In 1984 a friend gave him a cassette of South African accordion jive, and it took him to Johannesburg. An accordion breathes out and in. Pull it open and every pleat is one of his places, nearest first, measured from Flushing Meadows Corona Park, where the farewell tour ended a bike ride from his boyhood streets.
Closed. Home: Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
1984 to 1987
A friend gave him a cassette in 1984: Gumboots, Accordion Jive Hits No 2, by the Boyoyo Boys.
He went to Johannesburg in February 1985; the tape’s producer, Hilton Rosenthal, arranged studio time. Over ten days, with his engineer Roy Halee, he recorded in a Johannesburg studio, rhythm tracks first and words later.
He paid the players more than American union musicians would have made, and shared writers’ royalties with some.
The UN Committee Against Apartheid and the ANC denounced the trip for breaking the cultural boycott.
Johannesburg: the sessions · not mapped
Demos from Ovation Studio sessions in Johannesburg in 1987 came out on the 25th-anniversary edition. Graceland sells 14 million copies and wins Album of the Year.
The studio of the 1985 sessions is not named in our sources, so it is not mapped.
Johannesburg
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Compare toursRufaro Stadium, Harare
The Graceland tour played Rufaro two nights in February 1987, with Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, exiled critics of the South African government.
Tickets cost five Zimbabwean dollars, about US$3. The 10,000 seats were packed, and thousands more crammed the pitch in front of the stage. On 14 February the show closed with the African national anthem, led by Makeba.
A working football stadium in Mbare: go on a match day.
Sheffield, Alabama · Salvador, Bahia
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio · 1973
They recorded “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock” with him.
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section set up their studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield. The four were Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson.
Guided tours of about 45 minutes; book a time, and arrive ten minutes early. The control room is up outdoor stairs.
Sheffield, Alabama · Timed tours · 256-978-5151
A guided tour of about 45 minutes of the studio where “Kodachrome” was cut. Book a time and arrive ten minutes early.
Book a tourDowntown Florence, Alabama · Book direct · 1 (256) 349-5464
Ten suites in downtown Florence, Alabama, some named for Shoals music history, Muscle Shoals Sound among them. A short drive from 3614 Jackson Highway. Pictured: the studio.
Check suites
Pelourinho, Salvador · 1988–90
Olodum, a ten-member drum group from Salvador, powered “The Obvious Child”; he caught them by putting microphones on telephone poles round their regular performance space.
He went to Brazil four times in 1988–89, recording drums and street sounds. Olodum give a weekly concert in Salvador’s Pelourinho. The Rhythm of the Saints came out of Brazilian drum tracks he brought home to finish.
A public square in Salvador’s historic centre, steep and cobbled.
Salvador, Bahia
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30 Rockefeller Plaza · 20 November 1976
Hosting Saturday Night Live on 20 November 1976, he came out dressed as a turkey to sing “Still Crazy After All These Years”. He got through a few bars, said he was going to change, and could only leave once the suit got through the door frame.
The Tour at NBC Studios goes where Saturday Night Live is made; studio access varies with production, and under-8s cannot go.
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York · Hours change with production · ages 8–17 $42
Visits where Saturday Night Live is made, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Most tours take 75 to 90 minutes; studio access varies with production. No under-8s.
See tour timesThe Great Lawn · 15 August 1991
On 15 August 1991 he played a free concert here; early reports put the crowd at roughly 600,000.
City officials later found the lawn could hold far fewer: 48,500.
An empty lawn on an August evening. Bring people in.
The Great Lawn, Central Park
Ten years earlier Simon & Garfunkel had staged their Concert in Central Park reunion here. Concerts from the 1960s to the 1980s wore it into the “Great Dust Bowl”; a two-year restoration finished in 1997. The oval lawn is 12 acres, with six softball fields.
Open to all, except in winter, when the lawn is closed to let the grass recover. No toilets on the lawn.
New York
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Compare tours2012 to 2026
Hyde Park · 15 July, twice
On 15 July 2012, closing the Hard Rock Calling festival, he played three hours with the original Graceland musicians, Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo among them. Jimmy Cliff made a surprise appearance; the night became The Concert in Hyde Park.
Six years later to the day, on 15 July 2018, he played the farewell tour’s last European show here.
A royal park, open daily. Summer concert stages go up in the east of the park.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park · 22 September 2018
He ended his farewell tour here, a 20-minute bicycle ride from where he grew up.
The former high school baseball player brought out a glove and a ball and asked to play catch. Edie Brickell, his wife and only guest, came out to whistle the solo in “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”. He closed with “The Sound of Silence”, his first big hit.
A public park; the Unisphere is the easiest place to meet.
A Quiet Celebration · 2026
On 8 July 2026 he was back, on his A Quiet Celebration tour.
Simon & Garfunkel played here in 1966, 1967, 1968 and twice in July 1970; in 1967 the Doors opened for them. The stadium is 3 km from the park where the farewell tour ended.
10 places you can visit, from Queens to Harare. His boyhood home in Kew Gardens Hills is private and is not mapped, and the Johannesburg studio of 1985 is not named in our sources.
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. A working college campus: walk the quad, and respect classes.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working concert stadium, open on show days: check the calendar before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public park; the Unisphere is the easiest place to meet.
65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, Queens
He went to Queens College and graduated there.
A working college campus: walk the quad, and respect classes.
1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens
America’s first tennis stadium, from 1923, it became a concert venue in 1960.
A working concert stadium, open on show days: check the calendar before you go.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
He ended his farewell tour here, a 20-minute bicycle ride from where he grew up.
A public park; the Unisphere is the easiest place to meet.
Stay
A boutique hotel in Florence with a suite named for Muscle Shoals Sound.
Downtown Florence, Alabama · Book direct · 1 (256) 349-5464
Ten suites in downtown Florence, Alabama, some named for Shoals music history, Muscle Shoals Sound among them. A short drive from 3614 Jackson Highway. Pictured: the studio.
Check suitesGo there
The Muscle Shoals studio, the NBC tour, and walks in Central Park, Salvador and Johannesburg.
Sheffield, Alabama · Timed tours · 256-978-5151
A guided tour of about 45 minutes of the studio where “Kodachrome” was cut. Book a time and arrive ten minutes early.
Book a tour30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York · Hours change with production · ages 8–17 $42
Visits where Saturday Night Live is made, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Most tours take 75 to 90 minutes; studio access varies with production. No under-8s.
See tour timesNew York
Live marketplace results for walking and bike tours of Central Park. Check each itinerary for whether it reaches the Great Lawn.
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Compare toursSalvador, Bahia
Live marketplace results for walks through Salvador’s historic centre. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.
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Compare toursJohannesburg
Live marketplace results for history and music tours in Johannesburg and Soweto. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
His 2026 summer run ended in July; nothing later is confirmed yet. Check paulsimon.com.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Original posters from our store, the biography, and the records made in these places.
An original first-edition poster by Christopher Peterson for his concert at the Paramount Theatre, Oakland; he is drawn in a Yankees uniform. 13 × 19 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAn original poster from the 1999 Dylan and Simon tour, for the Denver show. 11 × 17 in, rolled, near mint.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterRobert Hilburn
A full biography, by Robert Hilburn.
Find the bookPaul Simon · LP, Columbia, 1973
With “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock”, cut with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
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Find a copyPaul Simon · LP, Warner Bros., 1986
Begun in Johannesburg in February 1985.
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Find a copyPaul Simon · CD, Warner Bros., 1990
Built on drum tracks from Brazil, Olodum’s among them.
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Find a copyPaul Simon · 2CD, Warner Bros., 1991
The Great Lawn, 15 August 1991.
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Find a copyPaul Simon · CD, 2023
The 33-minute continuous piece he plays in full to open his 2026 shows.
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Find a copyDates, 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.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 26 of 26 Moments
Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York
Paul Simon is born in New Jersey, and soon moves to Queens.
He and Art Garfunkel go to PS 164, Parsons Junior High and Forest Hills High School, graduating in 1958.
As Tom & Jerry, the two 15-year-olds reach the Top 50 and mime the song on Bandstand.
65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, Queens
He goes to Queens College and graduates.
1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens
Simon & Garfunkel play Forest Hills Stadium five times, once with the Doors opening.
He plays Forest Hills Stadium solo.
Back on the road, he plays Forest Hills Stadium again.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
The farewell tour ends in Flushing Meadows, a bike ride from where he grew up.
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York
Hosting Saturday Night Live, he sings in a turkey suit, stops after a few bars and goes to change.
Central Park, between 79th and 85th Streets
Simon & Garfunkel’s reunion concert on the Great Lawn.
A free concert on the Great Lawn; early reports say 600,000, city officials later say the lawn holds 48,500.
After decades of concerts, the Great Lawn’s restoration is finished.
Victoria Avenue, Widnes, Cheshire
He plays the Howff Folk Club in Widnes for £12, one night in a week of northern folk clubs.
In a station somewhere around Widnes and Warrington, by his own account, he writes “Homeward Bound”.
Widnes’s plaque is stolen twice; students make a brass one that stays put.
Hyde Park, London
He closes Hard Rock Calling with the original Graceland musicians.
The farewell tour’s last European show, six years to the day after 2012.
3614 Jackson Highway, Sheffield, Alabama
He records “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock” with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Largo do Pelourinho, Salvador, Bahia
He records Olodum in Salvador with microphones on telephone poles round their performance space.
The Rhythm of the Saints comes out, built on Brazilian drum tracks.
Johannesburg, South Africa
A friend gives him a cassette: Gumboots, Accordion Jive Hits No 2, by the Boyoyo Boys.
He records for ten days in Johannesburg with local musicians and Roy Halee, rhythm first.
The UN Committee Against Apartheid and the ANC denounce him for breaking the cultural boycott.
Graceland sells 14 million copies and wins Album of the Year.
Demos are made at Ovation Studio in Johannesburg; they surface on the 25th-anniversary edition.
Mbare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Two nights at Rufaro Stadium with Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela.
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