Honoring the place where ‘Born to Run’ was born

by JAY LUSTIG
The cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" single, recorded in Blauvelt, N.Y.

The cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” single, recorded in Blauvelt, N.Y.

Bruce Springsteen titled his first album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., but he didn’t record it in the Garden State. He made it at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt (Rockland County, N.Y.), not far from the Jersey state line.

He recorded his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, and the title track of his third album, Born to Run, there, too. Janis Ian worked at the Blauvelt studio as well —she recorded “At Seventeen” there, in fact — as did The Ramones and Dusty Springfield.

The studio is long gone: There is now a car wash where it used to be, at 585 Route 303. But a plaque, funded with money raised from an indiegogo.com campaign, is being installed there, to honor the studio’s history. And it will be unveiled Aug. 18 at 6 p.m.

Studio founder Brooks Arthur will attend, as will keyboardist Joe Delia, who worked at the studio; singer-songwriter Joe D’Urso; members of the Historical Society of Rockland County and others. There will be music and refreshments at the Blauvelt Coach Diner, which is next door.

The studio took its name from Rockland County’s old area code, 914.

“It was the best-sounding room in the world,” Ian told the Lower Hudson Valley newspaper, The Journal News. “All the modern studios, with their sound consultants and sound architects, have nothing on the old 914. Whether it was a symphony date, or just me and my acoustic guitar, the room sounded fantastic.”

For information, visit facebook.com/borntorunblauvelt.

(Aug. 19 update: This video was taken at yesterday’s event:)

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