Queens · Fifth Avenue · the 59th Street Bridge · Central Park · Rome
In 1968 they called an album Bookends. Two boys from the same Queens streets were just that: whatever they made stood up only while both were there. Their places are shelved here in the order they happened.
Queens to Monterey, 1941 to 1970
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up practically neighbours in Kew Gardens Hills. Both graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1958. As Tom & Jerry, at 15, they reached the Top 50 with “Hey, Schoolgirl” and mimed it on Bandstand.
01 · Neighbours
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up practically neighbours in Kew Gardens Hills.
Both went to PS 164 and Parsons Junior High before Forest Hills High School.
Both boyhood homes are private houses: the neighbourhood is named here, the houses are not mapped.
02 · 1957 · 1958
Both graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1958.
A neighbour remembers seeing them in the school auditorium when they were still called Tom & Jerry.
As Tom & Jerry, at 15, they reached the Top 50 with “Hey, Schoolgirl” and mimed it on Bandstand.
A working public high school: see it from 110th Street and do not go in.
03 · 1966 to 1970
They played it on 6 August 1966, 12 August 1967, 17 August 1968, and on 17 and 18 July 1970.
In 1966 they were second on the bill to the Mamas & the Papas.
In August 1967 the Doors opened for them, and started late because their instruments had been lost on the flight.
A working concert stadium, open on show days: check the calendar before you go.
04 · 22 January 1967
They were recorded live at Lincoln Center on 22 January 1967.
Most of the performances stayed unreleased until Live from New York City, 1967 came out on 16 July 2002: 19 live performances.
The 75-minute Lincoln Center Tour starts at the David Geffen Hall Welcome Center, on weekdays at 10:15 am and 12 noon.
The plaza is open to all. The 75-minute Lincoln Center Tour starts at the David Geffen Hall Welcome Center on weekdays.
05 · 16–18 June 1967
The Monterey International Pop Festival ran from 16 to 18 June 1967 at the fairgrounds in Monterey.
Simon, Garfunkel, John and Michelle Phillips and Lou Adler helped organise it, and Simon & Garfunkel played.
With Johnny Rivers, Simon & Garfunkel put up money for a bigger event; Paul Simon sat on a board of directors that never met in the flesh.
A 22-acre, state-owned event venue, open for its own events; the fairgrounds also run an RV park near downtown Monterey.
Lincoln Center, New York · Weekdays 10:15 am and 12 noon · groups 646-385-0242
A 75-minute walk through rehearsal rooms, backstage corridors and empty theatres, from the David Geffen Hall Welcome Center. They were taped here in January 1967.
Pick a dateFairground Road, Monterey, California · Book through the fairgrounds
RV parking on the fairgrounds where Monterey Pop was held in June 1967, near downtown Monterey.
See the RV park
Fifth Avenue–53rd Street, 1964
The cover of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was shot on the Queens-bound platform of the (now) E and M lines.
They posed for hundreds of pictures; many were unusable because of vulgar graffiti on the wall behind them. The photograph is credited to Henry Parker of the Columbia Records Photo Studio; “5th AV” shows on the wall behind them.
Viewfinder up on the Queens-bound platform. Nothing taken yet.
The shoot led to “A Poem on the Underground Wall” on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. “The Sound of Silence” is written in November 1963, the month President Kennedy was killed. Tom Wilson overdubs an electric band onto the acoustic “The Sound of Silence”; by late 1965 it is No. 1.
A working subway station: the cover was shot on the Queens-bound platform of the E and M lines. A fare gets you in.
The 59th Street Bridge · about 6 am
Paul Simon wrote “The 59th Street Bridge Song” in 1965, coming home over the bridge at about six in the morning.
It was recorded on 16 August 1966 in the sessions for Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Garfunkel grew up in Queens and moved to Manhattan to go to Columbia; the bridge runs from Queens over Roosevelt Island into Manhattan. Simon came to dislike the song and rarely played it.
Since May 2025 the south outer roadway has been a dedicated pedestrian path, and the north lane bike-only.
The guide, as a shelf
Twelve volumes, one for each real place, shelved in the order its story starts. Pull one to open it. Then try the shelf with one bookend.
12 volumes standing between two bookends. Pull one.
St Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University · 1969
Roy Halee took the piccolo trumpet and tuba overdubs for “The Boxer” into the chapel at Columbia University.
The chorus was recorded there for what Garfunkel called a high-ceiling stone sound. “The Boxer” went to No. 7. Garfunkel was a graduate student at Columbia University.
Both horns are still in the studio. Carry them up to Morningside Heights.
St Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University
A working university chapel on Columbia’s campus: check the University Chaplain’s website for when it is open.
After the split
14 June 1972
On 14 June 1972, after the split, they reunited at Madison Square Garden for Warren Beatty’s benefit, Together for McGovern. They played eight songs, among them “America”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “The Boxer”. Weeks later Columbia put out Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits; it reached No. 5.
A working arena above Penn Station: go to a show, or check the Garden’s own site for tours.
19 September 1981
In September 1981 the city asked them to reunite for a free concert to raise money to renovate the park; an estimated 500,000 came.
Mayor Ed Koch introduced them, on a stage built to look like a New York rooftop; HBO filmed it. The Concert in Central Park came out on 16 February 1982 and went double platinum.
Concerts from the 1960s to the 1980s wore the lawn into “the Great Dust Bowl”; the Conservancy finished restoring it in 1997. The oval lawn is 12 acres, with six softball fields.
Open to all, except in winter, when the lawn closes to rest.
New York
Live marketplace results for walking and bike tours of Central Park. Check each itinerary for whether it reaches the Great Lawn.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours12 June 1982
On 12 June 1982, on the reunion tour, they played the Feijenoord Stadium in Rotterdam.
A working football stadium. The 90-minute stadium tour includes the Feyenoord Museum; book ahead.
Rotterdam-Zuid · Adults €19.50
Ninety minutes round the Feijenoord Stadium, with the Feyenoord Museum included. They played here on 12 June 1982.
Book your tour31 July 2004
Rome’s mayor, Walter Veltroni, told the crowd that 600,000 had come: 100,000 more than for Paul McCartney in the same spot the year before.
On 31 July 2004 they gave a free open-air concert in front of the Colosseum. It closed the European leg of the Old Friends tour, their last tour together. Some of the best seats went unused: the balconies and terraces of the flats overlooking the Colosseum.
Via dei Fori Imperiali is a public street; the Colosseum itself is ticketed.
Rome
Live marketplace results for tours of the Colosseum and the Forums along Via dei Fori Imperiali. Check what each ticket includes.
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Compare toursThe whole shelf
11 places you can visit, from Queens to Rome. Their boyhood homes in Kew Gardens Hills are private and are not mapped; Forest Hills High School and St Paul’s Chapel are working buildings, best seen from outside.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working public high school: see it from 110th Street and do not go in.
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.
67-01 110th Street, Forest Hills, Queens
Both graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1958.
A working public high school: see it from 110th Street and do not go in.
1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens
They played it on 6 August 1966, 12 August 1967, 17 August 1968, and on 17 and 18 July 1970.
A working concert stadium, open on show days: check the calendar before you go.
Stay
A hotel close to Lincoln Center, and RV pitches on the Monterey fairgrounds.
Upper West Side, New York · Book direct
A hotel close to Lincoln Center, with suites of up to 1,200 square feet and a rooftop bar with east and west terraces. Pictured: Lincoln Center’s plaza.
Check roomsFairground Road, Monterey, California · Book through the fairgrounds
RV parking on the fairgrounds where Monterey Pop was held in June 1967, near downtown Monterey.
See the RV parkGo there
Lincoln Center from backstage, De Kuip with its museum, and walks in Central Park and Rome.
Lincoln Center, New York · Weekdays 10:15 am and 12 noon · groups 646-385-0242
A 75-minute walk through rehearsal rooms, backstage corridors and empty theatres, from the David Geffen Hall Welcome Center. They were taped here in January 1967.
Pick a dateRotterdam-Zuid · Adults €19.50
Ninety minutes round the Feijenoord Stadium, with the Feyenoord Museum included. They played here on 12 June 1982.
Book your tourNew York
Live marketplace results for walking and bike tours of Central Park. Check each itinerary for whether it reaches the Great Lawn.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursRome
Live marketplace results for tours of the Colosseum and the Forums along Via dei Fori Imperiali. Check what each ticket includes.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Four dates on his (What a) Wonderful World tour, from artgarfunkel.com.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Original posters from our store, two books and the records made in these places.
An original 1966 Columbia Records promotional poster. 17.5 × 22.5 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterAn original 1967 poster by Milton Glaser for their Lincoln Center concert. 24.5 × 37.5 in, rolled.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterAn original 1983 Day on the Green poster, from the reunion years. 16 × 21 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterArt Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel’s memoir.
Find the bookPete Fornatale
A whole book on the 1968 album and its moment.
Find the bookSimon & Garfunkel · LP, Columbia, 1964
The first album; its cover was shot on the Queens-bound platform at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copySimon & Garfunkel · LP, Columbia, 1968
The album this World is shelved by.
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Find a copySimon & Garfunkel · LP, Columbia, 1970
With “The Boxer”, part-recorded in St Paul’s Chapel.
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Find a copySimon & Garfunkel · CD, Columbia, 2002
Lincoln Center, 22 January 1967, released 35 years later.
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Find a copySimon & Garfunkel · 2LP, Warner Bros., 1982
The Great Lawn, 19 September 1981.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
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 · 20 of 20 Moments
Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York
67-01 110th Street, Forest Hills, Queens
At 15, as Tom & Jerry, they reach the Top 50 with “Hey, Schoolgirl” and mime it on Bandstand.
Both graduate from Forest Hills High School.
1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, Queens
They play the stadium near their old school, second on the bill to the Mamas & the Papas.
The Doors open for them at Forest Hills, late, their instruments lost on the flight.
Bookends comes out in March 1968; that August they are back at Forest Hills.
Two last nights at Forest Hills Stadium.
After Bridge Over Troubled Water they break up the next year.
Fifth Avenue and East 53rd Street, Manhattan
“The Sound of Silence” is written in November 1963, the month President Kennedy was killed.
They pose for hundreds of frames on the Queens-bound platform for the cover of their first album.
Tom Wilson overdubs an electric band onto the acoustic “The Sound of Silence”; by late 1965 it is No. 1.
East 59th Street, Manhattan, to Long Island City, Queens
“The 59th Street Bridge Song” is recorded for Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center, Manhattan
A concert at Lincoln Center is taped; it comes out 35 years later.
1160 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Horns and the chorus of “The Boxer” are recorded in St Paul’s Chapel at Columbia.
Bridge Over Troubled Water comes out less than a month into 1970.
Fairground Road, Monterey, California
They help organise the Monterey International Pop Festival, and play it.
4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan
A one-night reunion at Madison Square Garden for George McGovern.
Central Park, between 79th and 85th Streets
A free concert to save the park; an estimated 500,000 people on the Great Lawn.
The Conservancy finishes restoring the worn-out Great Lawn.
Van Zandvlietplein, Rotterdam-Zuid
The reunion tour plays the Feijenoord Stadium.
Piazza del Colosseo and Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome
A free concert in front of the Colosseum closes the European leg of the Old Friends tour.
