Obie Benson’s House

Drive down San Juan Street and you’d never guess one of the most important songs in American music took shape behind one of these ordinary brick facades. This was the home of Renaldo “Obie” Benson — the bass voice and a founding member of the Four Tops, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers behind “Reach Out I’ll Be There” and “Bernadette.” But the reason to slow down here is a different song entirely. After watching police beat anti-war protesters in Berkeley in 1969, Benson carried the raw idea home and began shaping it with lyricist Al Cleveland — who happened to be renting the upstairs unit of Benson’s duplex. What the two of them wrote became “What’s Going On,” the song Benson eventually handed to Marvin Gaye.

It’s a private residence, so this is strictly an admire-from-the-sidewalk stop — no knocking, just a quiet nod to the address. But it pairs perfectly with Stevie Wonder’s childhood home a few streets over: proof that Bagley wasn’t only where Motown people played, it’s where they lived — and where some of the era’s greatest music was quietly born. On our list.