Tower Records

New York, New York, USA

Closed 2006

The Disappointed Tourist: Tower Records, Ellen Harvey, 2021. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard.

Oh man, I still miss the good ole listening stations. Anon.

Tower Records was an international chain of retail music stores that was founded in 1960 by Russell Solomon in Sacramento, California. The chain was named after his father’s drugstore which was in the same building as the Tower Theatre where Solomon started selling records. The New York Tower Records opened in 1983 on lower Broadway in the East Village. It was closed in 2006, when the second of Tower Records’ bankruptcies led to the liquidation of all of its retail stores. This painting is based on an uncredited black-and-white photograph.