In the 1940's the building was a huge bus/transportation hub and it needed a lot of entrances to get people in and out at rush hour. It's called the "Googleplex" and it's located a block south of where the band went down the subway.
This is the huge, block-long building where Google has it's New York headquarters. Then Billy and the other guys walk back along the yellow path. In the video, the single man along walks the red path, then the camera zooms along the blue path to the corner of the playground. The building who's product provides Billy with half of the "give and take" of "The New York Times.The Daily News.") You can see the New York Times building near Times Square in the background.
The building is in an area now called Chelsea, which is about 1/4 mile north of Greenwich Village and about a mile and a half south of Times Square, which is where the A&R recording studio will be located (on 52nd Street) later in the video. (You will get this view if you search for the building on Google Street View at "300 West 17th Street, Manhattan, New York." If you search for "308 West 17th Street, Manhattan, NY" you will get taken right to the steps that Richie was sitting on.) You can see the trees outside of the playground in the back. If you go there and look through the grating - you can still see the stairs, covered with dead leaves. This is what's left of the subway stairs they were descending, which were at the south-west corner of Eighth Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan.Īnd here's another view from the other direction. The video continues uptown at the studio, but I want to discuss this section while we are here. They enter the subway at the street corner. They are all in "street" clothes.Īnd the saxman (Richie Cannata) comes off the steps and joins them. He picks up two other band members (Liberty and Doug) and walks down the street. Then, after seeing the Liberty and Doug in close up, we see Billy. the camera zooms into the back of the park where some "street guys" are leaning out against the fence. The man walks by the stairs to a building. I will also post it here, though I can't guarantee it will be there when you click on it. If you are unfamilair with the video you can find it on YouTube or Vevo by searching for "Billy Joel My Life Video." (All stills are from the Music Video of Billy Joel performing My Life (c) 1985 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT) It pans down, as title credits come on, and we see a person in a white tee shirt walking down the street from the street corner. The video starts with a shot of the New York skyline. Joel not only serenaded Brinkley during “Uptown Girl” (and dusted off some of that original choreography she helped him with), he beckoned for his camera crew to capture her smiling and dancing in the front row.To be notified of new PopSpots entries, follow PopSpotsNYC on Twitter:įor questions or comments you can email me (Bob) As recently as last year he told The New York Times how much he enjoyed teaching young students who “don’t ask me about what happened with Christie and ‘Uptown Girl.’” But he seemed to have put all that behind him this week at Madison Square Garden. The song and its inevitable association with his marriage has, at times, been a sore subject for Joel. When Joel was on his River of Dreams tour during the divorce, the hit “Uptown Girl” was missing from his set list. The couple were married and had a daughter together, but divorced in 1994.
The two reportedly bonded over the experience with Brinkley, an accomplished dancer, walking Joel through all his choreography. Joel was already an established star when, in 1983, he wrangled top model Christie Brinkley to star in the light-hearted, dance-filled music video for the song. It’s been over thirty years since Billy Joel’s smash doo wop throwback hit “Uptown Girl” first hit the airwaves. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.