I write for a weblog called Retecool, and photoshop-contests are a regular phenomenon there. One day, July 30th 2004 to be exact, one of the users posted a picture (scroll down) of a guy sitting on a couch, as a suggested picture for one of the photoshop contests. A nice picture, but nothing spectacular, as can be seen here:

Nevertheless, the ‘man on the couch’ was used in lots of contests and many, many other topics on the weblog from then on and finally became a true meme: the word ‘bankneger’ (the dutch word voor couchman, or rather ‘ethnic lounger’ as we prefer to call it) was almost nominated for Dutch Word of the Year 2004, and became the subject of many, many photoshop contests: some results can be seen below, and hundreds more can be found here.

After 5 years of enjoying this great picture, I decided it was time to try and figure out the identity of our beloved couchman. But all I had to go on was the fact that couchman was sitting in front of what seemed to be a pharmacy, the number 21 (wich can be seen above the entrance) and a hunch that this picture was taken in New York.

I used google maps to find any pharmacy located in New York which had the number 21 in its address. After about 20 minutes of ‘virtual walking’ through New York using Streetview, I found myself standing in front of Jessies Coffeshop, which was strikingly similar to the pharmacy on the picture.

And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is in fact the place! The numer 21 above the entrance is exactly the same as the one in the picture, the walls match, the windows match, everything matches!

So now I knew where the photo had been taken, but not by whom. This problem was quickly solved by one of the weblog’s readers: he found out the original picture was hosted here, and the copyright belonged to someone called Grady Haynes. A simple Google Search gave me his e-mail address, and I sent him a message, asking if he perhaps knew couchmans identity. Here’s what he wrote:

“”Wow! Hi, I wish I had any more information on the photo. I was on a business trip in October 2002 to nearby New Jersey at the time, staying in Manhattan for about a week. Me and a few others had gone out that evening; I think we were headed to Chinatown for dinner at the time. I was sitting in the back of a taxi (I think I was actually reviewing the photos on my camera to clear space on my memory card!) when we pulled up to a red light and I saw out the window a man sitting on a couch on a sidewalk. After I processed that I was really seeing that, I quickly put my camera to my eye and got off a shot before we kept going. Thus “Man on Couch” was born. When I looked at it, I was really happy with how it had turned out. It continues to be the most remarked-about photo I’ve ever taken — I just didn’t know before today by how much!

So, as you can see, I can’t help you with finding the man on the couch, but I’m certainly impressed with your detective work. Thanks very much for letting me know the story. My jaw dropped as I read it and clicked on the links. I’m really glad you guys have gotten enjoyment out of it. I’d of course appreciate it if you’d keep me up to date with any new occurrences, including if you can find the couch-sitter!

Thanks again, you guys really made my day! Grady Haynes”

So now we had a date, and a location.

Next, I sent out a Twitter-message asking if anyone was heading for New York anytime soon, and it turned out a friend was going there within a couple of days. She thought the idea was cool and was very willing to put up some posters at the site where the legendary picture was once taken.

This is what the poster looked like:

And so…

(putting op posters at 21 7th Ave)

(Asking some random people on the street, you never know..)

To be continued…

(if you have any information, please contact me at pie@retecool.com)