The 1921 Leonetto Cappiello poster showing a harlequin twirling a mess of pasta is seen on the wall of the restaurant in which Jake and Hamilton dine in episode 6; it's in the background during much of that footage.
Thanks to this board's highly informative "
Links" thread, and the "
YA Locations" website to which it refers one, that restaurant can be identified as
Pazza Luna ("Crazy Moon") in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. A harlequin with a mess of pasta is the trademark of that restaurant; the poster seems likely to be part of the restaurant's decor, not something added by the makers of "Young Americans."
That, of course, does not preclude Antin's having chosen the restaurant for its decor, including that poster; Pratt and Fleming are messing with each other's heads (Fleming rather more subtly, in my view) during the restaurant scene of episode 6 in a way that reminds me of the harlequin twirling his mess of pasta in the poster.
How did Antin choose Pazza Luna? Easy: he worked in the neighborhood and probably lunched there himself. The Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore is where much of YA was shot. The interior of "Rawley Boys'" was a bunch of sets inside "a huge warehouse-turned-sound-stage down in Locust Point where Hull Street runs into the harbor," where Antin set up YA's production headquarters, according to an article by David Zurawik, "
Pretty as a Picture," in the May 2, 2000, edition of
The Baltimore Sun. That's only six blocks from Pazza Luna, and it's probably where the "warehouse promo shots," including the one I've copied onto this thread two posts back, was shot. Only one block from Pazza Luna is the Christ Evangelical and Reformed Church, the parsonage of which, according to the "YA locations" website, was the house at which the "townie party" scene in YA episode 2 was shot; next door to that church is the house used as Bella's house in episode 4. At the tip of Locust Point, the "point" itself, is Fort McHenry, British naval bombardment of which, during the War of 1812, inspired Frances Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." The old fort is well preserved by the US National Park Service.
When next in Baltimore, I shall make a point to dine at Pazza Luna; could be fun. It has changed hands, closed, and re-opened, since 2000, but it's still there and, by all accounts, still much the same. It's just across the Patapsco River from Middle Branch Park, the site of both the
Baltimore Rowing Club and the
Middle Branch Marina, where the J&H docks scenes of episode 6 were shot; together, the two might make a pleasant outing.
