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This Is Where Madonna Became Madonna
All images are courtesy of Matthew Rettenmund.
As the story goes, when Madonna Ciccone first hopped out of a yellow taxi cab in New York City in 1978, she had nothing but $35 in her pocket and a dream of becoming the greatest pop star the world has ever known. Before Sephora killed St. Marks, Madonna spent her early New York years bouncing around different East Village squats, working as a hatcheck girl at the Russian Tea Room, and boogieing the night away at Danceteria. It’s a come up that shaped the “Like A Virgin” singer into who she is today: a rebel, a 7-time Grammy winner, and a mother to every pop star that came after her. But perhaps no one knows more about the Queen of Pop’s connection to the city than Matthew Rettenmund, also known as Encyclopedia Madonnica. The avid Madonna enthusiast and author has spent years tracing her storied past, so to celebrate Madonna’s highly anticipated album Confessions II and her record 11th Interview cover, we employed Rettenmund to take us on a New York City walking tour through some of the most iconic Madonna landmarks.
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232 E. 4TH STREET
“Madonna’s first NYC apartment where she lived on her own. She also lived at 102 E. 4th.”
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599 BROADWAY
“Former site of Chase Park, advertised as Madonna’s first NYC appearance in October 1981.”
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119 2ND AVENUE
“Former site of Love Saves the Day from Desperately Seeking Susan.”
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213 PARK AVENUE SOUTH
“Former site of Max’s Kansas City. In 1981, she was advertised for the first time as ‘Madonna.'”
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30B CARMINE STREET
“Former site of Vinyl Mania, a record store where Madonna did her first (and one of her only) in-store album signings for her first album Madonna on August 26, 1983.”
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542 LAGUARDIA PLACE
“Site of Keith Haring’s last home in which he died. Madonna and other intimates gathered here shortly before his death from AIDS to bid him farewell.”
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30 W. 21ST
“Former site of Danceteria, the legendary club where Madonna met her friend Debi Mazar running the elevator and handed her demo to DJ Mark Kamins. Also where a key dancing scene in Desperately Seeking Susan was filmed. The place is so vital to her history she is releasing a song called ‘Danceteria.’ She said in 2021 it’s the club she most misses.”
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515 W. 18TH STREET
“Former site of the Roxy. Madonna frequented the joint and performed in 1983. It is also where her first-ever magazine cover was launched (also 1983), Island. In 1998, she gave a legendary late-night performance to promote Ray of Light, and returned in 2005 to plug Confessions on a Dance Floor with Stuart Price.”
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210 TENTH AVENUE
“Empire Diner, where part of Bad Girl was shot.”
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584 EIGHT AVENUE
“The Music Building, where Madonna rehearsed with her first group, the Breakfast Club, in an early incarnation, and where she occasionally lived. She took Kurt Loder on a tour of the place in 1998, and just this past month did a promo with Bilt to pay rentals for people working there.”
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TIME SQUARE
“Where Madonna was dropped off by a cabbie upon her arrival in NYC in 1978. Also the site of her Who’s That Girl movie premiere, as well as her 2026 TSX Confessions II pop-up concert.”
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242 W. 45TH
“Royale Theatre, now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where Madonna starred for months in Speed-the-Plow.”
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201 W. 46TH
“Former site of The Gaiety, the gay strip club that appears in her Sex book.”
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141 W 54TH
“Ziegfeld Theater, where Truth or Dare (1991), A League of Their Own (1992) and W.E. (2011) premiered.”
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254 W 54TH
“Studio 54, where Madonna often performed past midnight and where—in the basement area now known as 54 Below—she did some of the vocals for Erotica.”
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1697 BROADWAY
“Ed Sullivan Theater, where Madonna visited David Letterman and, in 2005, rode a horse down W. 53rd.”
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2 E. 55TH
“St. Regis Hotel, where Steven Meisel—with Maripol as stylist—shot Madonna’s iconic Like a Virgin album cover.”
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1 W. 64TH / 41 CENTRAL PARK WEST
“Harperley Hall. Site of the apartment Madonna bought in 1985 after being rejected by the co-op board of the San Remo (145-146 Central Park West). Eventually renovated it until it was a 6,000-square-foot unit on two floors. Her brother Christopher Ciccone decorated it. It sold for $19 million.”
